The 13-day sprint Pete DeBoer is conducting leaves the Islanders coach little time to turn his first training camp into a boot camp.
asserted
DeBoer → conduct → camp
The new-ish face, who coached the last four games of 2025-26, cannot assert himself with the sort of sprints and conditioning that were a hallmark of training camps past.
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that → coach → camps
Through three days, with the preseason opener Sunday afternoon in Newark, DeBoer’s training camp has been heavy on systems work, with a day of scrimmaging on Friday to get the competitive juices flowing.
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juices → scrimmage → Friday
That’s largely a matter of necessity given the condensed calendar, but the main effect of the time squeeze is to cut off the fat and force every coach to focus on their priorities.
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effect → ’ → priorities
“We prioritize trying to get our structure in defensively,” DeBoer said earlier this week.
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DeBoer → prioritize → structure
“That’s where most of the bleeding with this group, in my mind, happened last year.
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most → ’ → mind
DeBoer changed what he could on the fly at the end of last season, but that could only be so much 78 games into the season.
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that → change → season
Now is when he can rip out the foundation and lay down something new.
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he → rip → something
Mathew Barzal’s absence from camp underscores a reality the Islanders will be living with all season.
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Islanders → underscore → reality
While their roster is far from bereft of talent, they simply lack the offensive firepower of most playoff teams.
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they → lack → teams
The more games they need to win 4-3, the fewer games they will win.
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they → need → games
“We’re latching onto box-outs, just taking care of the middle of the ice,” Brayden Schenn told The Post.
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Schenn → latch → Post
“We didn’t do a good enough job of that last year.
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We → do → that
Numbers showed that.
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Numbers → show → 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.”
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you → collapse → pucks
Breakouts and the neutral zone are different, too, and the process of trying to remake the power play began Saturday.
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process → try → play
The Islanders have no choice but to latch onto the new ideas and learn them fast.
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Islanders → have → them
That is going to be largely down to the coach teaching them.
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That → go → them
“Detail with how everyone goes.
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everyone → detail → ?
It’s pretty black and white,” Schenn said, describing DeBoer’s style.
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Schenn → ’ → style
“What we need to do, what the system’s like, what he’s looking for.
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he → need → what
Whether that’s breakouts, D-zone, neutral zone.
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that → ’ → ?
He doesn’t have a million ideas.
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He → have → ideas
He has the right ideas.”
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He → have → ideas
“It makes everybody’s life a lot easier,” Bo Horvat told The Post.
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Horvat → make → Post
“You’re not thinking about 1,000 things or what you have to do out there.”
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you → think → what
Unlike the last couple coaches to come through here, DeBoer is a proven commodity at the NHL level.
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DeBoer → come → level
His track record — the last time he missed the playoffs in his first full season coaching a team, it was 2008-09 and he was a rookie head coach — is one of the biggest reasons to believe the Islanders can surprise people this season.
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Islanders → miss → people
It’s been an alarmingly long time since Barry Trotz took a team widely viewed as having a talent deficit and pushed it into contention.
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Trotz → take → contention
That might be what’s required of DeBoer.
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what → require → DeBoer
“I think [he’s] just really installing an identity for our team to be a fast-paced team,” Cal Ritchie told The Post.
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Ritchie → think → Post
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.
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you → ’ → structure
The Aporia
