Capellini: Paging Superstar Tavares, The Islanders Desperately Need You

By Jeff Capellini
WFAN.com

The Islanders have to have John Tavares being John Tavares.

Or else, what's the point?

The "franchise" has produced at well off a point-per-game pace so far this season, and that has to stop. He must instead become some facsimile of the player we all saw during the first round of last spring's playoffs, when he emerged from the obscurity of NHL Brooklyn to command the league's attention.

That John Tavares. The at times unstoppable John Tavares.

The unfortunate reality is the Islanders' captain is being summoned to the forefront despite management doing next to nothing to help him. This basically salary capped-out-yet-.500 roster is what it is. If help is ever to come, the timing will probably depend on just how close the Isles can get to a wild card and whether or not money can be freed up to make the kind of substantial moves that general manager Garth Snow has seemingly been unable pull off for a long time.

Now, you could argue that if Tavares is the superstar the vast majority of Islanders fans believe he is, it's high time he take over games and make everyone around him better, as he did during the six-game vanquishing of the Florida Panthers last April. But considering how two of the Isles' top three scorers left over the summer and have yet to be adequately replaced -- regardless of recent upticks in play by both Andrew Ladd and Jason Chimera -- the supporting cast around Tavares is as a whole not as good as it was last spring.

And that's not just on the offensive end. But that's a discussion for another time.

In the interim, we need to look at the Islanders' oft-inconsistent scoring and assess based on who is here and who is likely going to remain here for the time being.

If we're being fair about things, not all the news is doom and gloom. The Islanders' secondary scoring has been there of late. The production may ebb and flow on a week-to-week basis, but when things are going right, as has been the case during the Isles' current three-game winning streak, the pressure on Tavares to do it all is lessened considerably.

Exhibit A: Anders Lee.

I've been hard on this kid for a while, but there's no denying the fact that presently he is about as hot a scorer as you'll find in the NHL. The 26-year-old winger has 12 goals in his last 16 games and is on pace for 31 goals, which would easily surpass his career high (25), set two seasons ago.

The reason why I've criticized him is because prior to his recent explosion he had but one goal and one assist in his first 18 games. And that slow start came on the heels of a dip in production in 2015-16 (15 goals in 80 games), the season after he signed a four-year, $15 million extension.

Now, Lee is finally earning his money, and in doing so he has given up the right to go weeks without being an impact player on the score sheet.

Exhibit B: Ryan Strome.

It surprises me to say this, but Strome has looked a lot better of late, even if his stats are still well below the hockey version of the Mendoza Line.

The 23-year-old forward has been searching for his scoring touch for the better part of the last 102 games. In that time he has 13 goals and 26 assists, which is a lot less than the 17 goals and 33 assists in 81 games he put up as a rookie back in 2014-15.

For whatever reason, this kid has been without his mojo for some time, though his recent run of five points, including three goals, over his last six games at least offers reasons for optimism.

Exhibit C: Josh Bailey.

Perhaps the most maligned Islander of the Jack Capuano era, Bailey is on pace for a career-high 51 points, which would shatter his previous best of 41, set during the 2014-15 season.

Bailey may not have the goal-scoring touch to be truly worthy of a first line slot next to Tavares, but his playmaking abilities and penchant for timely impact have made him a more than serviceable asset.

I have no idea if he'll continue to play this way, but there's no denying the fact that this is a different Bailey than we saw during his previous eight NHL seasons.

Lee, Strome and Bailey haven't been the only ones to up their game of late. Ladd has three goals in his last two games, Alan Quine has three assists in the same span, and Nikolay Kulemin has a point in five of his last seven contests.

Still, the Islanders (14-14-6) will not become more this season without Tavares finding whatever it is he has misplaced. Now in his eighth season and still only 26, Tavares has been a non-factor for much of the 2016-17 slate. Though his 24 points lead the Isles, he is not setting the pace in goals or assists. In fact, he is projected to finish with just 58 points, which would be his lowest total in a non-labor shortened season since he registered 54 as a rookie in 2009-10.

Tavares' power play goal against Buffalo on Friday represents his lone point in the last five games, and he has just two multi-point games the entire season.

A lot has been made of the Islanders failing to equip their star player. I should know because I've led the barrage for the last several years, but that doesn't change the fact that Tavares, based on his reputation, is still likely to command up to $10 million per season if he hits free agency following next season. The Isles can officially offer him an extension starting July 1.

Right now, and I can't believe I'm actually typing this, maybe the Isles should at least be cautious about the idea of throwing the kitchen sink at him this summer. The fact remains that, star winger on his line or not, something has been amiss in Tavares' game for a good portion of the last season and a half and it's up to him to fix it.

We know what he is capable of. We saw it during the last third of the 2015-16 regular season and again in spades during the opening round of the playoffs. But since then he hasn't been the same player. He disappeared in the second round against Tampa Bay, and this season has taken more penalties than we're accustomed to seeing. What's more, on too many occasions has been caught out of position defensively, likely due to trying to do too much in the offensive zone.

One can continue to blame Tavares' linemates for his lack of superstar production for only so long. Eventually, it starts to sound like excuses. With the Islanders set to begin a stretch of seven of eight on the road, starting Thursday night in Minnesota, their season is at a critical juncture. They can ill afford any more of the helter-skelter play that dominated their first 30-plus games, that is if the idea is to avoid the full-season regression label the experts put on them following their awful offseason.

The Islanders have to go on a big-time roll and they need Tavares to be in the middle of it. If not, this summer will be about a lot more than trying to add impact pieces and debating whether changes are needed behind the bench and in the front office.

It could end up being about Tavares, and not in a good way.

Read more columns by Jeff Capellini and follow him on Twitter at @JCapWFAN