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The New York Islanders’ opening night roster was released on NHL.com today and can be seen below.


FORWARDS (13): Josh Bailey, Mathew Barzal, Anthony Beauvillier, Casey Cizikas, Cal Clutterbuck, Ross Johnston, Leo Komarov, Anders Lee, Brock Nelson, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Kyle Palmieri, Zach Parise, Oliver Wahlstrom

DEFENSE (8): Sebastian Aho, Zdeno Chara, Noah Dobson, Andy Greene, Thomas Hickey, Scott Mayfield, Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock

GOALIES (2): Jakub Skarek, Ilya Sorokin

INJURED/NON-ROSTER (3): Johnny Boychuk, Matt Martin, Semyon Varlamov



A lot of players were locks for the roster, being two goalies, six defensemen and about 11 forwards, though Semyon Varlamov and Matt Martin are both starting on injured reserve.

In net, Jakub Skarek is on the roster with Varlamov injured and Cory Schneider isn't listed - which we’ll get to in a second.

The two interesting additions on the blue line are Sebastian Aho and Thomas Hickey, as Erik Gustafsson signed with the Chicago Blackhawks. Neither will likely take a spot in the lineup, but it’s interesting to see the team went with eight defenseman.

Up front, Oliver Wahlstrom, Leo Komarov and Ross Johnston all retained their spots, while Michael Dal Colle, Anatoli Golyshev and Richard Panik didn’t make the cut.

The x-factors here, however, are Kieffer Bellows and Cory Schneider, who weren’t listed and whose contracts were just registered. The Athletic’s Arthur Staple confirmed that neither player needs waivers and can be placed on the roster.

If #Isles do file Schneider/Bellows contracts today or tomorrow, neither needs waivers if they stay with the big club. Thought that they would need waivers because contracts were filed after rosters were set, but not so.

Schneider will be filed so he can travel tomorrow.

— Arthur Staple (@StapeAthletic) October 12, 2021

Assuming they are, Skarek can be sent down, as will likely one of Aho or Hickey. Once added, Schneider will likely only be on the roster until Varlamov is ready to go and will then also be sent down. However, there could be one more forward sent down, once Martin is activated.

The roster gymnastics are likely an effort to maximize their long-term injured reserve relief from Johnny Boychuk’s contract and use as much of the $6 million as possible, without going over. This would also explain Bellows and Schneider not being listed, given that they’re both on league minimum contracts. According to CapFriendly.com, the team has used $5,993,355 in LTIR space - or 99.9 per cent of what they could use. This will provide the team with more cap flexibility this season.

There will almost surely be more transactions coming soon, but these are some clever moves from general manager Lou Lamoriello, in order to maximize potential cap space.



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QuizMaker
OTHER ARTICLES FROM OCTOBER

Projecting the New York Islanders’ 23-man roster
Contract details for Zdeno Chara and Zach Parise revealed

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