Some have eluded to there being "too many bodies" including the hockey genius Art Staple (and I mean that in the most sarcastic derogatory way in his case), but I simply don't see it, in fact I think they are probably short a body (nhl veteran defenceman).
NHL Forwards:
John Tavares
Ryan Strome
Brock Nelson
Frans Nielsen
Anderson Lee
Kyle Okposo
Mikhail Grabovski
Nikolai Kulemin
Cal Clutterbuck
Josh Bailey
Michael Grabner
Matt Martin
Casey Cizikas
(That's 13)
Insurance: C.McDonald, Conacher, Boulton, Skille
NHL Defense:
Travis Hamonic
Calvin de Haan
Thomas Hickey
Lubomir Viznovsky
Matt Donovan
Griffin Reinhart
Brian Strait
Matt Carkner (needs replacing, pains me to put him in this category)
Insurance: TJ Brennan, Kevin Czuczman
NHL Goalie:
Jaroslav Halak
Chad Johnson
Insurance: Leggio, Poulin
All players I listed as insurance are AHL level players at this point. None of them have significant salaries and they can be waived and demoted at any time without any negative consequences. They can also be of service in the NHL in case of any training camp/pre season/ regular season injuries assuming they clear waivers.
Still missing a top 4 NHL veteran defenceman in the form of a boychuck or oduya which can be acquired via trade via draft picks. But I'm doubting they add salary at this point. But certainly NOT too many bodies. Just enough if you ask me (well one short of just enough). First time in a long time, that's why it's so foreign to Islanders fans and "experts" like Staple.
By the way, salary wise.... if the insurance guys like McDonald, conacher, Boulton, and Matt carkner are the players waived/traded. Then the qualifying offers of Lee, de haan, cizikas, Donovan shouldn't cause the payroll to go up from where it is now by very much at all. Meaning they can keep the payroll at 55 million by keeping the right players OR add 2 or 3 million to the payroll for boychuck/oduya and have an NHL roster with depth for 58 million. Not too bad.