The New York Islanders are now down to 40 players on the roster and while there are still cuts to come, we’re starting to see the herd thin out.
Sebastian Aho, Kieffer Bellows and Mason Jobst highlighted the list of 12 players sent down to Bridgeport yesterday. It wasn’t all that surprising– even though Jobst did look good throughout the preseason games.This means there’s now only one session running and the practice held today could hold some insight into what we can expect in terms of the roster.
Anders Lee, Mathew Barzal and Jordan Eberle are playing together, while Matt Martin, Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck remain together, to no surprise. But the middle-six lines are where to focus. The second-line is made up of Michael Dal Colle, Brock Nelson and Josh Bailey. The key here is that Michael Dal Colle seems to be the winger in place of Andrew Ladd right now in a battle that also includes the likes of Josh Ho-Sang and even Tanner Fritz. This means Dal Colle is likely the favourite right now to get playing time in place of Ladd, plus it’s in the top-six.
That part is slightly odd as you’d maybe expect Anthony Beauvillier to be the one jumping onto the second line. Instead, he’s with Derick Brassard and Leo Komarov. It’s likely a better long-term plan to have Beauvillier on the second-line and Ladd on the third once he returns but for now it’s interesting to see Dal Colle potentially taking a top-six spot rather than Beauvillier.
Now for the defence, there’s a pretty telling sign that a certain star prospect is going to get some NHL playing time. Paired with Nick Leddy is Noah Dobson, while Adam Pelech/Ryan Pulock and Devon Toews-Scott Mayfield fill out the other two top-six pairs. What’s very interesting to see is that Johnny Boychuk was practising with Thomas Hickey in what would be the league’s most expensive spare pairing should the Islanders begin the season this way. Getting back to Dobson though, he’s looked great so far in the preseason and if you didn’t think he was getting the nine-game trial run before, this certainly adds some fuel to the fire.
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