EAST MEADOW, NY — New York Islanders head coach Pete DeBoer wants goals. He wants defense, too, sure, but on more than one occasion, he’s dropped this nugget:
“You need a certain amount of goals in this league in order to get in the playoffs, regardless of how well you defend. You still have to put the puck in the net at a certain level in order to give yourself a chance to get in the playoffs.”
That was a quote from when we asked him earlier in training camp about offseason signing Matias Maccelli, who is likely to start in the top six and play on the club’s top power-play unit.
But it’s also a point DeBoer reiterated when I asked him about forward Anthony Duclair this morning: