Today we will continue our series addressing some of the biggest questions facing each Eastern Conference team this offseason. This column will mark the halfway point of the conference, completing eight of the sixteen teams in alphabetical order – and funnily enough, it will also be the eight teams who missed the playoffs. We'll dive into four teams here who all will be or are already under new management of some sort – the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins who are both without a head coach, the Rangers who have just hired Mike Sullivan, and the Islanders who have recently parted ways with Lou Lamoriello. 

New York Islanders – Is It Time for a New Identity?

It would be too easy to focus on the fact that the Islanders currently lack a general manager. Let's set that aside and ask a more intriguing question: who's going to grow the longest beard on Long Island this year? Kidding… sort of. But behind the jokes lies a serious question – what kind of identity can the Islanders embrace to find success?

Lou Lamoriello's most recent first-round pick, Cole Eiserman, slipped to the Islanders due to concerns over his defensive game – a strikingly uncharacteristic pick for a franchise that has long favored low-event, low-scoring, counterattacking hockey. Through Barry Trotz, Lane Lambert, and now Patrick Roy, the team's approach has remained largely the same: safe, structured, and defensively focused.

But with the Islanders winning the 2025 draft lottery and holding the first overall pick, they have a rare chance to pivot. Combine that with $38-million in cap space this offseason, and there's room to reshape the roster. Key contracts need attention, including Kyle Palmieri, Noah Dobson, Alexander Romanov, Scott Perunovich, Maxim Tsyplakov, and possibly Tony DeAngelo and Adam Boqvist, but there may still be flexibility to explore free agency and shift the team's direction.

Since Lamoriello took over in 2022, the Islanders rank 27th in goals per game, while sitting 14th in goals against – an imbalance that is destined to continue missing the playoffs. Yet there's plenty of individual talent to build around. Mathew Barzal ranks 46th among NHL forwards in points per game over that stretch, Bo Horvat sits 75th, and Anders Lee is 67th in goals. On the blue line, Noah Dobson ranks 17th in points per game among defensemen, despite a down year. And Ilya Sorokin has been rock solid in net, ranking 10th league-wide in save percentage since 2022.

All the core pieces for a playoff team are here. If the Islanders commit to evolving their style – possibly around Eiserman and a more dynamic offensive philosophy. Fantasy managers would rejoice to see a New York Islanders team abandon the 'boring hockey' reputation of the past and enter the Cole Eiserman Era of offense. 

New York Rangers – Can they stabilize? 

The Rangers are reeling from one of the most stunning one-year falloffs in recent NHL history. After setting a franchise record with 114 points and winning the Presidents' Trophy in 2023-24, New York crashed to a 39-36-7 record and missed the playoffs entirely in 2024–25. From the start of the season until October 23 – the Rangers trailed only the undefeated Jets in points percentage. A loss to the Florida Panthers on October 24 started shaking the boat – the next dozen games New York was able to tread water, with a .636 win percentage, but November 23 the ship started taking on water. From November 24 until the New Year, the Rangers were the worst team in the NHL, losing 14 of 18 games which all but erased their 12-6-1 hot start. For the remainder of the season the Rangers would be stuck right around the .500 win percentage mark, going 23-17-6 after January 1^st and unable to dig themselves out of that hole they dug in late November and December:

The team's firepower dried up – their power play plummeted from 3rd in the league last year to 28th (17.6% success) this season – and frustration mounted. In a bid to shake things up, GM Chris Drury even traded captain Jacob Trouba in December, along with former top pick Kaapo Kakko, highlighting an urgent need for change. The team seemed to be deflated at this point, everyone's performance dipped. 

The fallout was swift: head coach Peter Laviolette was fired after just two seasons at the helm. In his place, the Rangers made a splash by hiring Mike Sullivan – a two-time Stanley Cup winner – just days after he was let go in Pittsburgh. Sullivan's championship pedigree and reputation for accountability offer hope for a reset. Still, big questions loom in New York. Was this season merely an aberration for a talented core, or a sign that the roster's makeup is flawed? Sullivan will be tasked with restoring a clear team identity and maximizing stars like Artemi Panarin and Igor Shesterkin, but it's unclear if that alone is enough. 

Some observers even wonder if core veterans (long-time Rangers like Chris Kreider or Mika Zibanejad) might be on the trade block as the club evaluates how to avoid a repeat collapse. The Rangers head into the offseason facing uncertainty about who they really are as a team – a contender that lost its way, or a group in need of deeper changes. How they answer that under new head coach Mike Sullivan will determine if this year's disappointment was just a blip.

Pittsburgh Penguins – How much is left in the tank? And can they stabilize the goaltending?

For the Pittsburgh Penguins, the 2024-25 season wasn't just disappointing, it felt like the closing chapter of an era. The Penguins missed the playoffs for the third consecutive year, and in doing so, officially entered uncharted waters. The result: longtime head coach Mike Sullivan was relieved of his duties after 10 seasons and two Stanley Cups. His departure signals a franchise at a crossroads, unsure whether to reload around an aging but still productive core, or finally embrace a more forward-looking reset.

That decision starts – and may end – with Sidney Crosby. At 37 years old, Crosby continues to defy expectations, producing at a point-per-game clip for the 20th straight season. Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, both well into their mid-30s, remain valuable contributors, but the question looms: how much longer can they hold up under the weight of carrying a roster that hasn't evolved fast enough around them?

Despite a blockbuster trade for Erik Karlsson, a move clearly meant to squeeze another playoff run out of the core, the Penguins fell short. Karlsson's 56 and 53 points certainly helped over the last two seasons, but they weren't enough to mask a flawed roster or patch up the team's most glaring weakness: goaltending.

The crease was an outright liability all year. Tristan Jarry, once seen as the team's No. 1, was waived midseason after posting an .886 save percentage and demoted to the AHL. Alex Nedeljkovic, brought in as a low-cost backup, offered brief stability but never emerged as a long-term solution. Prospect Joel Blomqvist was given a couple auditions, going 4-9-1 in 14 games, but even his performance underscored the lack of readiness in net.

Now, GM Kyle Dubas is tasked with an offseason that could shape the franchise's next five years. One path is to chase one final playoff berth with the Crosby-Malkin-Letang trio by surrounding them with stopgap reinforcements and solidifying a netminder through off-season internal competition. Dubas has mentioned that he wants all three goaltenders, Jarry, Nedeljkovic and Blomqvist – even including a fourth in the conversation, 21-year-old prospect Sergey Murashov – to battle it out in camp for ownership of the net. The other path is to start laying the groundwork for a succession plan, a plan that includes younger pillars like Blomqvist, Rutger McGroarty, Philip Tomasino, Owen Pickering, Connor Dewar, and Pierre-Olivier Joseph, but also requires tough conversations with veteran stars.

Either way, shoring up goaltending is essential. There is no path forward, rebuild or otherwise, without stability in the crease. If Jarry is no longer trusted, and Nedeljkovic is only a short-term option, the Penguins will have to either target a UFA like Ilya Samsonov, Ville Husso, or Jake Allen – or explore the trade market.

This offseason is about more than just a new coach. It's about deciding whether to double down on what's left in the tank or start retooling with intent. The window is closing, and the Penguins are running out of runway. Whichever route Dubas chooses, the margin for error is shrinking fast, and it all starts with answering the biggest question: who's in net when the puck drops next fall?

Philadelphia Flyers – Will the youth get a chance to excel under new leadership, and how can they fix goaltending/special teams?

For the Flyers, the 2024–25 season was less a step forward and more a stumble into transition. Philadelphia finished 29th in the NHL with a 33-39-10 record, prompting the dismissal of head coach John Tortorella and assistant Rocky Thompson. Tortorella's resistance to fully embrace the team's youth movement was a lingering point of contention throughout the year, and it may have delayed the breakout of top prospect Matvei Michkov. The 2023 first-round pick posted nine points in eight games following Tortorella's exit, compared to 54 in 72 games prior. Nine games is a small sample size, but if this is any indication of what an "untethered" Michkov looks like, we could be in for a treat next season. 

The Flyers enter the offseason without a head coach but with a clear mandate: develop the kids, fix the crease, and address special teams. Philadelphia ended the year with the worst team save percentage in the NHL (.872), a historically poor mark for the franchise. None of Samuel Ersson, Ivan Fedotov, or Aleksei Kolosov seized the reins with a stretch of performances that inspired confidence – the Flyers are left without a proven starter. The situation in the net is not just a liability; it's the biggest single factor standing between Philadelphia and real progress.

The Flyers' power play ranked 30th at just 14.9%, and while the penalty kill showed occasional promise, inconsistency plagued both units. Inconsistency has not been the case year-over-year for the Flyers power play, having finished dead last three out of the last four years, and two out of the three years of Rocky Thompson's oversight of the Special Teams.

Whoever takes over behind the bench – Rick Tocchet is a rumored front-runner – will inherit a roster long on raw potential but short on polish. Tocchet, who left Vancouver after a Jack Adams-winning season, has strong organizational ties and a reputation for connecting with young players. His presence could provide exactly the kind of developmental stability this team needs.

There is optimism around the Flyers' youth movement. Michkov put together an impressive rookie campaign, landing him just outside Calder consideration given spectacular performances from Macklin Celebrini, Dustin Wolf, and Calder favorite Lane Hutson. Cam York showed flashes of potential as a top-four defenseman, while Tyson Foerster continues to gain traction as a complementary winger. Supplementary players like Noah Cates and Bobby Brink also started to append performance to their pedigree. 

But rebuilds are fragile. If the goaltending situation isn't addressed – either through a trade, free agent acquisition, or a leap from within – the development of the Flyers' young core could stall. A competent power play, coaching that will not be overly punitive to the youth, and at least average goaltending would go a long way toward accelerating the rebuild, but all remain major question marks.

That's your Eastern Edge Eastern Conference update for the week. Stay tuned for updates on the next batch of teams who have exited the playoffs: Montreal, New Jersey, Ottawa and Tampa Bay next week, and the rest of the Eastern Conference following. 

Thank you for reading, feel free to chirp me in the comments below or feel free to reach out on X – @FHFHockey. In the meantime, you can catch updates from me on the Five Hole Fantasy Hockey Podcast.