>“I’m not throwing shade at last year’s team, because the record was very good and they had (91) points, but the foundation of their game as far as chances given up, they just bled way too many chances to really be successful long term in my eyes,” DeBoer told The Athletic in an interview last week. “That’s something we have to address quickly.”
>“I don’t think there’s any doubt: a little different spot than those other teams,” DeBoer said. “Having said that, the league has changed dramatically recently. When you look at last year and the teams that missed and the teams that made the playoffs, I don’t think anybody would have predicted some of the teams that missed. … I think there’s the ability for teams to make significant improvement quicker than maybe people think and also fall the other way quicker than people think.”
>“My conversations with Duke at the end of the year and in exit meetings were just: clean slate and come to camp and ready to prove what you can do and how you can help us,” DeBoer said. “I remember the Duclair in Florida that had (around) 60 points and was effective every night. That’s going to be the challenge: for him to bring the best version of himself to camp.”
>DeBoer also mentioned winger Pierre Engvall, who missed the season after hip and ankle surgeries, as “another guy who’s going to be healthy that’s going to get an opportunity to see how he can help us.”
>DeBoer said he doesn’t yet know if the Islanders will have a captain this season.
>“I want to spend training camp with the group again, get a little more feel for the players and the options,” he said. “Then we’ll make some decisions.”