Noah Dobson heard the questions a year ago, answered them and then some.
That ended up being the season in which Dobson took The Leap, transforming from a young player full of potential to a star player fulfilling his potential.
He scored more points than any Islanders defenseman since Denis Potvin.
He carried the defense corps on his back through injuries and skated 24:31 per game.
His name appeared on the odd Norris Trophy ballot.
This was the player the Islanders envisioned when Dobson was drafted No. 12 overall in 2018, the player they still believed he could be when he spent chunks of the 2022-23 season struggling and on the third pair.
He proved them right.
So. What does the encore look like?
“I think you’re always trying to build on what you’ve done,” Dobson told The Post following Tuesday’s practice. “But I think when you have a good year, the hardest thing is, you have to follow that up. I think that’s just my mindset each day, to make sure I’m pushing to keep getting to another level.”
The 24-year-old Dobson’s 70 points last season ranked seventh amongst all defensemen; his 60 assists ranked sixth.
There is always room for improvement, but on the offensive side, Dobson is looking more to tune his skills — for example, he noticed that he shot the puck a little less than he’d prefer last season — than take a massive jump forward.
The next step in cementing himself amongst the league’s upper echelon of defensemen is in the defensive zone, where Dobson has gotten much more reliable, but did not quite reach an elite level last season.
“I think just looking at my battles in the corner, my retrievals,” he said. “Just working on the details, good body position. My posture going into battles. Little things like that, that can make a big difference. Just trying to be cleaner on the breakouts, win more puck battles in the corners. I think that will add to the overall game.”
That is right in line with what coach Patrick Roy wants to see him doing.
On the ice from Long Island
Sign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.
Thank you
“I think if he continues to get better in his one-on-one, compete level situation, his box-out, net-front awareness on the ice, I think that’s what I’m looking [for] from him,” Roy said last week. “These are all things that he’s very capable of, it’s just a matter of gapping up, make sure that his knees are bent and he’s playing. These are things he’s doing a lot. Would love to see him doing it all the time.”
These are the marginal things that make all the difference, that separate the Victor Hedmans and Roman Josis of the world from the rest of the pack.
Dobson, who will be helped by the combination of a healthy six-man defense corps and the anticipated consistency of his partnership with Alexander Romanov, is right on the precipice of that group, which includes the best handful of defensemen in the world.
Though a contract extension hasn’t happened yet for the pending restricted free agent, he will be paid like it when that does come to fruition.
And he is likely to be a part of Team Canada at February’s Four Nations Tournament, a chance to establish himself under the bright lights of best-on-best international play.
In the last couple days before the 82-game marathon starts with a home date against Utah, though, Dobson isn’t making big declarations or worrying about his future or even writing down goals.
That’s not his style.
“I think for me it’s more just, I want to be a big part of the team in all areas of the game and continue to elevate,” he said. “Cause I feel like if I do that and do my job well, it sets up the team to have more success. I think that’s just working towards being the best possible player I can for the team to have more success.”
