Islanders staring down pressing offseason questions with breakup day next

A draining, miserable and at times dysfunctional season for the Islanders is finally over, and a 35-35-12 record — the franchise’s worst in seven seasons with Lou Lamoriello as general manager — demands answers.Locker cleanout day Saturday, when reporters will hear from players for the last time before they go home for the summer, will start to make the club’s direction clear for the coming months.It’s also expected that general manager Lou Lamoriello and head coach Patrick Roy will hold availability at some point, if not Saturday with the players then over the next week.Here are five of the biggest questions for the Islanders heading into breakup day:The first, and biggest, question is one for ownership.

Lamoriello has been in charge of hockey operations since 2018; Roy is the team’s third head coach under his tutelage.The fan base has grown listless with the general manager and the roster badly underachieved this year, with the Islanders missing the playoffs for just the second time since Lamoriello took over.As for Roy, firing the head coach after a year when the team suffered so many injuries would be harsh.Still, there’s a question about whether he’s the right person going forward, especially given the way the Islanders finished the season, the way their special teams (in particular the power play) performed throughout the year and Roy’s public derision of some players, including Anthony Duclair.Though Roy and Lamoriello have presented a united front in public, there’s been speculation throughout the league all season that the two aren’t getting along as well in private, adding another element to the mix.Barzal underwent surgery on what’s believed to be a broken left kneecap in February; the nature of Varlamov’s lower-body injury is unknown, but he last played a day after Thanksgiving and suffered a setback in January.First and foremost, it’s unanswered whether they’ll both be ready for next season, and in Varlamov’s case espec...