Hockey season? Hockey season!
The Islanders officially hit the ice for rookie camp on Thursday, with NHL players following next week. Because the team did not hold a development camp over the summer, the time devoted to prospects over the coming week essentially makes up for that, with five on-ice days before the NHL camp starts.
That is a decent amount of time to get a sense of where the organization’s young players stand before they are thrown into the fire with the veterans.
Here’s who we’ll be watching closest over the next few days.
Simon Holmstrom
According to Lou Lamoriello, rookie camp will include every player on an entry-level contract and every draft prospect who is eligible and able to make the trip (e.g. not including those who are at school). Veteran AHL players will skate in a different group.
In effect, that means Holmstrom will be the most senior player on the ice as relates to NHL experience.
The winger played 50 games for the Islanders last season, vastly more than anyone he’ll be facing over the next week. He should stand head and shoulders above everyone else.
Because he’s also the player at rookie camp with the best chance of making the team, that will add some extra pressure to perform.
Holmstrom’s contractual situation gives him a slight disadvantage in the 23-man roster equation. He is still waivers-exempt, whereas other players who figure to be fighting for a spot, such as Ross Johnston, are not. Even so, the expectation should be for the 22-year-old to make the team out of camp.
William Dufour
Dufour was one of the players who Lamoriello mentioned was “close” to being NHL-ready and is one of the organization’s most intriguing prospects.
An NHL cameo didn’t go according to plan last year, but the Quebec native otherwise impressed in his first pro season with 48 points in 69 games with AHL Bridgeport.
“He’s big, he can shoot, he can score, he’s very good on the power play,” Bridgeport coach Rick Kowalsky said in July. “Has to work on his quickness, his intensity, his heaviness on the puck at times.”
The book on Dufour is that he’s a prospect with standout ability on offense whose skating could ultimately hold him back from being a high-impact NHL player. So, first and foremost, we’ll be watching whether he looks a little more fleet of foot on skates. From there, it’s a matter of how he compares to other prospects, among whom he should be the best in the group.
Matt Maggio
The 2022 fifth-round draft pick had a standout training camp last year, then followed it up with a 111-point season in the Ontario Hockey League to earn an entry-level deal.
It’s probably too early for Maggio to be making a serious challenge for an NHL roster spot, though Marc Savard, his coach at Windsor, brought up the possibility in a conversation with The Post a few months ago.
Because he played just a handful of games with Bridgeport last season, the next week is a good chance to benchmark Maggio’s progress and figure out where he stands in the pecking order ahead of the preseason. If all goes well, a call-up at some point this season would be realistic.
“His speed, his ability to score, things I saw in training camp — he wants the puck, he knows where to go on the ice, he works to get there,” Kowalsky said. “And he’s a competitive kid.”
Isaiah George
George already made a bit of news going into camp, inking his three-year entry-level deal with the Islanders on Wednesday. So the former London Knight can be penciled into Bridgeport’s roster for now.
The 2022 fourth-rounder wasn’t on the ice much at training camp last year due to an injury, but put together a strong season in the OHL and should be in consideration for Canada’s World Junior team come December.
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Over the long term, George’s mobility makes him an intriguing prospect for a team that currently doesn’t have enough puck-moving defensemen on its NHL roster.
There’s a long way between here and there, of course, but a strong camp would be a great step for George.
Calle Odelius
After spending last year in the Swedish second division, how will Odelius look in camp, especially when the pros arrive?
The 19-year-old is set to spend another season with Djugardens IF, and has spent a lot of time working on his upper-body strength. Development coach Eric Cairns has helped Odelius on and off the ice.
In a conversation with The Post early this summer, Odelius said he wants to show the Islanders he should be in North America sooner rather than later. A strong showing in camp and the preseason would go a long way.
Ruslan Iskhakov
Iskhakov’s 5-foot-8, 165-pound frame works against his chances of panning out in the NHL, but the Moscow native forced people to consider him last season with a 51-point campaign in his first AHL season.
Lamoriello put him in the same “close” category as Dufour on Monday, and though the former second-round pick has not gotten quite as much buzz as others, this is a big chance to impress.
Travis Mitchell and Aidan Fulp
We’re cheating a little bit by putting Mitchell and Fulp together, but the pair of former college defensemen signed with the Islanders on the same day last spring and usually have been mentioned as a pair since, so they’re going together here.
Because there is a competition for the last spot on the blue line, both players can technically consider themselves in contention for it. But in reality, it would take something monumental for anyone other than Samuel Bolduc or Sebastian Aho to be there on opening night.
So for the Cornell (Mitchell) and Western Michigan (Fulp) products, this camp is about getting a sense of where they fit in the organization’s depth chart.
Mitchell played just six games in Bridgeport last season and Fulp played three. This won’t quite be their first impressions, but it won’t be very far off.
Bailey says goodbye
Josh Bailey published a piece for The Players’ Tribune on Wednesday morning, thanking and saying goodbye to Islanders fans after the team traded him to the Blackhawks (who promptly released him) ahead of the draft.
“All of the things that I love about putting on the Blue and Orange are now just a memory,” Bailey wrote. “Although it has made me emotional at times, I will always cherish those memories.”
With rookie camps across the league kicking off this week and regular training camps to follow next week, it will be worth watching to see whether and where Bailey signs a professional tryout contract after the winger went unsigned in free agency.
Thanks to the salary cap rising just $1 million during the offseason, a number of players who fall into the same bucket as Bailey — veterans who would normally find a league minimum deal — remain unsigned, among them Phil Kessel, Eric Staal, Derrick Brassard, Paul Stastny and Alex Edler. So, too, do the likes of Nick Ritchie, Ethan Bear, Jesse Puljujarvi, Zach Aston-Reese and Mason Shaw, younger players who, in a normal cap environment, might have been worth a flier somewhere.
There’s not much argument that Bailey isn’t the same player he was a few years ago. Still, even in his worst moments with the Islanders last season, it was a stretch to think he couldn’t offer a few teams some value on a league minimum deal.
The reality of the cap situation around the league, though, dictates that it could be an uphill battle for Bailey to play this season.
Gone Fishing
The Islanders will wear alternate third jerseys 10 times this year, they announced Saturday.
But left out of the announcement was anything about the Reverse Retro Fisherman jerseys that were worn last year to great acclaim.
Despite the considerable buzz generated from the throwback sweaters — which, judging from the concourses at UBS Arena, sold pretty well, too — they are not on the schedule as of now.
