It's just tough to know what to make of the New York Islanders.

They are self-evidently not a particularly good or well-constructed team. The roster is old (third-oldest in the league this season at 29.6-years-old). They have a lot of guys on negative-value contracts (including a number of their younger players, which is not a good sign). They're a roughly average 5-on-5 team (18th in xGF%) and their special-team play was outright bad this season (19th in power-play efficiency, dead last on the PK). They also don't draw a lot of penalties (28th in power-play opportunities) even if they also don't get whistled for many (fifth-fewest in the league). 

Yes, they have an elite goaltender, a few impactful forwards, and a defender who got a bit of Norris hype at points this season, but beyond that,