Summer Skate: New York Islanders

Using the VUKOTA projection system of Hockey Prospectus, Insider is taking the temperature of key players on every NHL team, concluding with the New York Islanders. For a detailed explanation of Prospectus' proprietary GVT value metric, read more here.

Summer Skate -- New York Islanders

Though New York is getting big contributions from young veterans like John Tavares and Travis Hamonic, Islanders fans are growing impatient waiting for the part of the rebuild when a wealth of prospects actually plays on their NHL team and not on some junior team they've never heard of. It's one thing to lose with youngsters who are going through the growing pains of figuring out how to play with the big boys, and another to be watching another lost campaign with the likes of Steve Staios, Brian Rolston, Marty Reasoner, Milan Jurcina, Mark Eaton and Mike Mottau filling half the roster while literally providing sub-replacement-level play.

The Islanders went into this offseason looking for a top-four defenseman to go along with Hamonic, Mark Streit and Andrew MacDonald after missing out on Christian Ehrhoff last summer. They hope that top prospects like 2011 fifth overall pick Ryan Strome step into major roles on the team.

Trending up: D Lubomir Visnovsky
Last season: 7.0 GVT | VUKOTA projection: 8.2 GVT

To read the full story about the Isles' summer projections, plus Insider's complete NHL coverage, sign up for ESPN Insider.

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Craig Custance

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• Senior NHL writer for ESPN The Magazine
• Wrote for Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Wrote for The Sporting News