Pete DeBoer Runs His First Full Islanders Training Camp Under a Shrunken 13-Day Calendar

New York Islanders coach Pete DeBoer is getting his first crack at a full training camp, and the calendar is not doing him any favors.

The NHL's new collective bargaining terms shortened training camp and the preseason while expanding the regular season to 84 games, according to Yahoo Sports. That leaves DeBoer running what the New York Post called a "13-day sprint" that started Thursday, Sept. 17. The Islanders' preseason opener against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center in Newark is scheduled for this afternoon, and the regular-season opener against the Toronto Maple Leafs comes on Sept. 30.

DeBoer took over as Islanders coach for the final four games of last season after the team fired Patrick Roy, replacing him with the playoffs already out of reach, according to Sports Illustrated. New York had 91 points and looked like a playoff team as late as mid-March before losing 10 of 14 games down the stretch and missing the postseason entirely.

DeBoer says fixing that collapse starts in the defensive zone. "We prioritize trying to get our structure in defensively," he told the New York Post. "That's where most of the bleeding with this group, in my mind, happened last year."

Forward Brayden Schenn backed that up with specifics. "We're latching onto box-outs, just taking care of the middle of the ice," Schenn told the Post. "We didn't do a good enough job of that last year. Numbers showed 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."

The Post's own headline calls DeBoer's camp an "iron fist" operation, but the reporting underneath undercuts that framing. The piece states plainly that the condensed calendar leaves DeBoer "little time" for the sprints and conditioning work that defined past Islanders camps, and that the sessions have been heavy on systems installation with a single scrimmage day.

Players describe DeBoer's approach as clarity, not punishment. "Detail with how everyone goes. It's pretty black and white," Schenn said. New captain Bo Horvat, who got the job after longtime captain Anders Lee was traded to the Florida Panthers, echoed that at the team's charity golf tournament, per NBC Sports. "He's very good at making things very clear. There's no gray area, and things are black and white," Horvat said.

DeBoer has also borrowed from outside the sport. He told Yahoo Sports he has watched how NFL teams cut back on contact practices in recent years, which analysts tied to more early-season offense. "We want to avoid that," DeBoer said, explaining why the Islanders added scrimmages on preseason game days for players not dressing that night. "We're going to make an error on trying to get into as many competitive situations as we can here before we get up and running."

DeBoer's track record is the biggest reason New York believes this rebuild plan works. He has coached New Jersey to the 2012 Stanley Cup Final and San Jose to the 2016 Final, plus Vegas and Dallas to conference finals multiple times, according to Sports Illustrated. The Post noted that the last time DeBoer missed the playoffs in a first full season as an NHL head coach was 2008-09, his rookie year behind an NHL bench.

Two absences will shape how far New York can go early. Mathew Barzal is out for nearly all of camp and has not been ruled out for the opener, per Yahoo Sports. Kyle Palmieri is working back from a torn ACL. Meanwhile, 19-year-old defenseman Matthew Schaefer, last season's rookie of the year, said he is tired of outside doubt. "I love when haters hate because we're going to do our thing," Schaefer told NBC Sports.

One name is forcing his way into the opening-night conversation. Prospect Victor Eklund has scored in every game he has played this camp, including two rookie showcase goals against the Devils and one in Friday's scrimmage off a Schaefer point shot, according to The Hockey News. DeBoer is not getting ahead of it. "He's just got to continue on that path," DeBoer said. "But again, it's early, and that's what you want. You want young players to make those decisions as tough as possible."

Eklund is expected to play in at least three of New York's four preseason games. Whether he makes the opening-night roster will be one of the first real tests of how DeBoer's compressed camp translates once games start counting on Sept. 30 against Toronto.