The Islanders have been a nice story this year. After franchise centre John Tavares left the Islanders to make his dream come true, the team has gotten off to a solid 8-4-1 start.

The narrative being twirled as a result is that the Islanders don’t miss Tavares. Instead, leadership from Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz coupled with strong play from new leaders Anders Lee and Josh Bailey has helped the Islanders forget their former captain.

Like I said, nice story. It would be nicer if the team was actually good. They aren’t. The Islanders are overachieving and they most certainly will miss Tavares as the season goes along. The Islanders have some of the league’s worst underlying numbers and are riding high percentages to unsustainable success. They’re scoring on 12% of their shots and their goalies have a .936 save percentage. The team routinely gets outshot and will crater down the standings sooner rather than later.

John who? You know, John, the dude with 16 points, which would be tops on the Islanders right now. Oh well, let’s let them enjoy it for now. They’ve suffered enough.