Weight's swagger proving contagious with Islanders

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. --There's been a different feel around the New York Islanders since Doug Weight was named coach on Jan. 17, a swagger, if you will, on the ice and in the dressing room.
Perhaps it's the resume Weight had as a player, one that features more than 1,300 NHL games between the regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs. Perhaps it's his personality, one that gives him the uncanny ability to walk a fine line of being confident without being arrogant.

Whatever it is about Weight, his players have responded. The Islanders went 24-12-4 after Weight replaced Jack Capuano and missed qualifying for the playoffs by one point. Despite predictions the Islanders would fail to qualify again this season, they're off to a 15-8-2 start and lead the League with an average of 3.72 goals per game.
"We expected this," said forward Josh Bailey, the longest-tenured member of the Islanders who is also their leader with 30 points (five goals, 25 assists) in 25 games. "We felt like we had a really good team in this room that was capable of doing some good things. We wanted to get off to a good start. I think we've done a pretty good job of that so far, but I think we realize we still have a long way go, though. No one's getting ahead of themselves in here. It's a long, long season and you've really got to take it one day at a time."

The Islanders roster looks similar to last season, but the changes they did make have played a major role in their success over the first 25 games. Center Mathew Barzal, the No. 16 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, is second among all rookies with 24 points (six goals, 18 assists), one behind Vancouver Canucks forward Brock Boeser. Right wing Jordan Eberle, acquired in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers for forward Ryan Strome on June 22, has 19 points (10 goals, nine assists).
"I think we've just continued where we left off," said left wing Anders Lee, who has 27 points (15 goals, 12 assists). "We know what kind of team and a lot of the guys we have in this locker room. We've added a couple of new faces, but at the same time it's pretty much the same team. Just building off what we did last year. We understand a lot of people didn't believe us and whatnot, and we want to prove them wrong."
That's the mentality Weight has instilled in his players over the past 11 months. From the slogan he introduced before the season started ("Hit 'Em First") to the dominance displayed at Barclays Center (it took a last-second save from Ottawa Senators goalie Mike Condon last Friday to deny them of at least one point at home for the first time this season), the Islanders appear to have adopted Weight's swagger.

But is swagger really contagious?
"That's a good question," Weight said. "I think it is in a team. Everything's contagious on a team. But when it comes to confidence, you need to get yourself going. I believe as a team, we can come back from any deficit. I believe we can score. I believe we can go into every game thinking, 'All right, we can win this game,' and that's great. At the point in the season we're at right now with our team, I feel really confident as a coach as well.
"I don't want people to survive, I want them to thrive. The more people you have thriving with that swagger, the better you're going to be. We've got to try to get it out of these guys."
For the most part, he has, but there have been some challenges; forward Jason Chimera scored his first goal of the season in the 6-5 loss to Ottawa on Friday and forward Brock Nelson has one goal in his past 16 games. Weight is hopeful his bottom two lines will feed off the success his top two lines are having, which is highlighted by captain John Tavares' 16 goals.
"It's the confidence he has about him," defenseman Thomas Hickey said of Weight. "It is contagious. As many guys as you can get to feel like that, the team picks up some swagger. When things are going good, that stuff comes. It's just the tough times you've got to remember to carry a bit with you too. It's been good."
And perhaps some outside the organization forgot things were pretty good here over the final 40 games of last season, which is why Weight shrugs his shoulders whenever he's asked if he expected to have so much success over these first 25 games.
"I don't know what the big surprise is," Weight said. "Those games weren't meaningless last year. We weren't 45 points out of the playoffs. Last time I checked, we missed by one point. It was Sunday evening when we found out [we didn't make it], and the playoffs started Wednesday.
"This was a different team, the team I expected it to be. Yeah, we've got some young guys that have come and contributed, but it's the same team in there that was whatever our record was last year. We're a good team. We're going to continue to get better, we're going to work, we're going to know each other a bit closer as far as structure, as far as how we play, as far as preparation … everything's just going to start hopefully getting better. Do the results keep coming? I hope so, but that's what I expect and I expect us to be a good team this year."