Pete DeBoer’s 13-day sprint gives the Islanders’ coach little time to transform his first training camp into the kind of boot camp seen in years past.
The relatively new coach, who took over behind the bench for the final four games of 2025-26, cannot rely on the punishing sprints and conditioning drills that once defined Islanders training camps.
After three days of camp, with the preseason opener set for Sunday afternoon in Newark, DeBoer has emphasized systems and structure. Friday’s scrimmage provided the first real opportunity for the players to tap into their competitive instincts.
The condensed schedule has made that approach necessary. More importantly, the limited time has stripped away anything nonessential and forced the coaching staff to identify its most important priorities.
So what tops DeBoer’s list?
“We prioritize trying to get our structure in defensively,” DeBoer said earlier this week. “That’s where most of the bleeding with this group, in my mind, happened last year.”
The Islanders’ defensive struggles last season need little explanation. Their numbers in their own zone were disastrous, and that breakdown was arguably the biggest reason they fell out of the playoff race.
DeBoer adjusted what he could on the fly late in the season, but there was only so much he could change after 78 games had already been played.
Training camp is his chance to tear out the old foundation and build something new from the ground up.
Mathew Barzal’s absence from camp highlights another reality the Islanders are likely to face throughout the season.
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Although the roster is hardly short on talent, it does not possess the offensive firepower carried by most playoff teams.
The more often the Islanders are forced to win 4-3, the fewer victories they are likely to collect.
“We’re latching onto box-outs, just taking care of the middle of the ice,” Brayden Schenn told The Post. “We didn’t do a good enough job of that last year. Numbers showed that. When you collapse in the middle and take away the dangerous parts of the ice, you give yourselves and your goalies the chance to stop pucks.”
The Islanders are also installing changes to their breakouts and neutral-zone play, while the effort to reshape the power play began Saturday.
With so little time available, the Islanders must absorb DeBoer’s new concepts quickly. Much of that responsibility falls on the coach to teach them clearly and efficiently.
“Detail with how everyone goes. It’s pretty black and white,” Schenn said, explaining DeBoer’s coaching style. “What we need to do, what the system’s like, what he’s looking for. Whether that’s breakouts, D-zone, neutral zone. He doesn’t have a million ideas. He has the right ideas.”
“It makes everybody’s life a lot easier,” Bo Horvat told The Post. “You’re not thinking about 1,000 things or what you have to do out there.”
Unlike the previous two coaches to pass through New York, DeBoer has already established himself as a proven NHL coach. His record is a major reason to believe the Islanders could surprise this season: the last time he missed the playoffs in his first full season with a team was 2008-09, when he was a rookie head coach.
It has been an alarmingly long time since Barry Trotz guided a team widely considered short on talent into contention. DeBoer may be asked to pull off something similar.
“I think [he’s] just really installing an identity for our team to be a fast-paced team,” Cal Ritchie told The Post. “Move the puck quick, move our feet quick, get up and down the ice quick. That’s how you’re gonna generate offense in this league: beat teams quickly and not let them get in position, cause when teams get in position, you’re not really gonna beat their structure. Just trying to play quick, play smart, detailed hockey.”