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Are the New York Islanders a Championship Contender? SB Nation Reacts poll result

It depends on what you mean by “serious contender,” presumably

By Dominik

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Florida Panthers v New York Islanders
Let’s be serious.
Photo by Andre Ringuette/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images

This is SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NHL. Each week, SB Nation sends out questions to the most plugged in Islanders fans, and fans across the country. Sign up here to join Reacts.

As the NHL prepared to start the 2020 playoffs, last week’s poll question revolved around whether different fanbases viewed their team as serious contenders. (Or, for groups whose team did not make the top 24 cut, it asked who they were backing.)

With the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference, our survey respondents were predictably lukewarm on whether the Islanders fit that definition. I think “contender” is always in the eye of the beholder: It’s clearly something short of “favorite” but...does it mean that a team with enough to make it all the way in an “anything can happen” league?

Perhaps. Just under 50 percent of our Islanders fan respondents believed the Islanders are a “serious contender” for the Stanley Cup. If you voted, feel free to explain further in comments below.

To deliver on that promise, they’d have to get through a best-of-five against the Panthers before commencing the normal three-round slog to get out of the conference for a best-of-seven final.

So you’re saying there’s a chance?

After Game 1 though, so far so good. Just 18 more wins to go, is all.

Anyway, let’s narrow this down. Here’s a more specific poll for you:

Poll

How far will the Islanders make it in the August-September postseason?

This poll is closed

  • 1%
    Not far. The Panthers will knock them out.
    (7 votes)
  • 20%
    They’ll beat the Panthers but then in the first best-of-seven round.
    (138 votes)
  • 32%
    They’ll lose in the second best-of-seven round.
    (224 votes)
  • 18%
    They’ll make it to the Conference Final.
    (126 votes)
  • 1%
    They’ll lose in the Stanley Cup final.
    (11 votes)
  • 26%
    DRIVE FOR FIVE, BABY. 19 wins and a new Cup, at long last.
    (178 votes)
684 votes total Vote Now

The survey also asked qualifier teams if they’d would want their team to tank for an opportunity (12% chance, by the latest lottery) to draft Alexis Lafrenière. From those, 23% said bring on the tank.

To vote in the Reacts surveys and have your voice heard each week, sign up here.

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