Good Morning, Islanders Country.
Two o’clock came, and two o’clock went, and Pierre Engvall is still part of the Islanders organization. The 28-year-old was among the biggest and most surprising names placed on waivers on Sunday, but with six years left on his contract, the other 31 teams passed on Engvall’s tantalizing skillset.
"You ask anyone who knows him; he is one of the most gifted athletes anybody has ever seen," said Eliotte Friedman on his 32 Thoughts Podcast on Monday. "He just looks like a great athlete. This is their (the Islanders) way of shocking him."
Also going unclaimed is 23-year-old defenseman Samuel Bolduc, who started last year as the team's seventh defenseman. Also headed to Bridgeport is reliable stay-at-home defenseman Grant Hutton, along with forwards Hudson Fasching, Liam Foudy, and Fredrik Karlström. G Marcus Hogberg and Jakub Skarek also cleared.
If Engvall was the most surprising player on waivers, Oliver Wahlstrom is the most surprising player to make the opening roster. When camp started, there didn’t look to be a path for Wahlstrom, who has sputtered through the last two seasons due to injury and inconsistent play.
Nevertheless, he has an elite shot, and he worked hard enough, long enough, to impress Patrick Roy. He’ll get an opportunity to skate on the new-look fourth line with Kyle MacLean and Casey Cizikas. You also have to imagine power play reps are in play as well. There’s no longer talk of Walhstrom playing with Mathew Barzal and being a top-line producer, but he has a role on this team to start the year, and that was something that didn’t feel likely weeks ago.
Coming up, Lou is feeling 22 for the Opening Night roster, and the salary cap is the reason. Plus, the Isles are targeting another Maxim, Brent Sutter is named captain, and Connor Bedard dreams of Mat Barzal.
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: The Isles announced their 22-man roster for the start of the 2024-25 season. The club will carry 13 forwards, seven defensemen, and two goaltenders while Matt Martin, still on a PTO, can practice with the team as the 23rd.
Forwards (13)
Mathew Barzal, Casey Cizikas, Anthony Duclair, Julien Gauthier, Simon Holmstrom, Bo Horvat, Anders Lee, Kyle MacLean, Brock Nelson, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Kyle Palmieri, Max Tsyplakov and Oliver Wahlstrom
Defensemen (7)
Dennis Cholowski, Noah Dobson, Scott Mayfield, Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock
Mike Reilly and Alexander Romanov
Goaltenders (2)
Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov
The Salary Cap
Per Puckpedia, the Islanders' opening roster has $212.5K projected Cap Space with 22 active players (13F/7D/2G) and can fit a $971K annual Cap Hit. The number includes a $1.85M dead cap hit for Engvall buried in Bridgeport.
⏭ NEXT UP: Two more sleeps! The Islanders will host the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday night at UBS Arena. Face-off is set for 7:30 PM EDT.
📊 STANDINGS: The New Jersey Devils swept their two-game series against the Buffalo Sabres to sit atop the Metro Division standings with four points.
Maxim Out
Maxim Tysplakov may not be the last KHL star, or even Maxim, to come over to North America and play for Long Island. In an exclusive from Ethan Sears in the New York Post, the Isles are one of four teams on Traktor Chelyabinsk forward Maxim Shabanov. The Maple Leafs, Predators, and Utah are the others.
Shabanov scored 25 goals and 25 assists in the KHL last season and has 14 points in 12 games this season. Per Sears, European scouting whisperer Jim Paliafito, who helped land Tsyplakov, could also help the Islanders with Shabanov.
🎥 ISLES REWIND: On October 8, 1987, The Islanders named Brent Sutter the fourth captain in franchise history when Denis Potvin relinquished the role ahead of his final NHL season. Sutter was drafted 17th overall at the 1980 NHL Entry Draft. The Isles drafted Sutter in the first round of the 1980 NHL Draft (17th overall) and won two cups with the Islanders in 1982 and 1983. He remained captain until early 1991-1992, when the Isles traded him with Brad Lauer to Chicago and got Adam Creighton and Steve Thomas in return.
🎧 Double Chili Podcast with Peter Schwartz “Islanders radio voice Chris King joins "The Double Chili Islanders Podcast" with Peter Schwartz. Peter and Chris talk about the upcoming season and the addition of forwards Anthony Duclair and Maxim Tsyplakov. It's always a great conversation when Peter and Chris talk Islanders hockey.”
🔗 Chicago Blackhawks Connor Bedard Talks About His Dream Linemate, Islanders Mathew Barzal, Who Adds Story On When The Two Met by Stefen Rosner “The Hockey News” When Jackie Redmond asked Chicago Blackhawks star Connor Bedard if he could pick one other NHL player to skate with on a line, he went with New York Islanders forward Mathew Barzal.
🔗 Dobson’s Contract Season Could Define Islanders’ Next Offseason by Mike Fink, The Hockey Writers “Dobson is a great passer who moves the puck up the ice well and has a strong defensive game. If he can continue to do those things at a high level and become a scorer, he will become invaluable to the team. Dobson has a great shot, and he must use it more often to take the Islanders to the next level; scoring 20 goals and 60 or more assists.”
And we leave you with this…Connor Bedard is dreaming about playing with Barzy.
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