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New York Islanders

Waiving Engvall a Sign of the New Islanders Way?

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Yesterday afternoon, the news became official that the New York Islanders decided to waive Pierre Engvall. The team also waived Hudson Fasching and Samuel Bolduc, too. Marcus Hogberg, who signed and appeared to be Ilya Sorokin’s insurance in case he wasn’t ready to go, was also waived, signifying that Sorokin is ready. Jakub Skarek, Liam Foudy, Fredrik Karlstrom, and Grant Hutton rounded out the list of waived Islanders yesterday afternoon.



That means that Oliver Wahlstrom, Julien Gauthier, and Dennis Cholowski won the final roster spots. The other bubble players, Simon Holmstrom and Maxim Tsyplakov, ran away with their roster spots during camp.

Engvall Waived? What?

The obvious lede is Engvall. It’s certainly never a good sign to waive a player you signed to a seven-year deal roughly 15 months after the ink dried. However, it shows that President and General Manager Lou Lamoriello isn’t afraid to admit his mistake.

The easy way out likely involved waiving the younger Wahlstrom and keeping Engvall aboard as a bottom-six forward. Lamoriello met with the media and told them it came down to the fact that Tsyplakov came in and won the top-six job, knocking Engvall out. Holmstrom works well with Pageau, and Head Coach Patrick Roy specifically mentioned wanting to keep those two together, so that meant Engvall was down to the fourth line at best.

Anyone who’s watched an Islanders game knows the Islanders’ fourth line has a reputation. That reputation is born out of physical forechecking and hard work. This is not to say that Engvall isn’t a good forechecker. He is. The analytics have shown that Engvall does that particularly well.

What he doesn’t do well is get physically involved. He doesn’t throw a lot of hits, and he doesn’t have a real palette of skill. Engvall also fails to shoot the puck more often than not. He’s one of the more frustrating players in the NHL, one who clearly has some raw ability but constantly leaves you wanting more.

What Happened at Camp?

From the outset of camp, Engvall struggled. Roy pointed out that through his first two preseason games, he was a minus-five with zero points and zero shots. Point blank, that’s entirely unacceptable. Add in the talent infusion of Anthony Duclair and Tsyplakov and the step forward from Holmstrom. It landed Engvall firmly on the chopping block.

Ahead of the Islanders’ final preseason game against the New York Rangers, Engvall got one more lifeline. Kyle Palmieri sat out a practice for maintenance and did not play. Engvall slotted into line two with Brock Nelson and Tsyplakov. It was his final chance to make an impression and save his job.

He registered two shots but ultimately did not do enough. Frankly, he was clearly the third-best player on the line. He almost looked nervous at times. All of this added up to Engvall being exposed to the waiver wire.

Now What?

Even through all this, I firmly believe Engvall is an NHL-capable player. In the right situation, he’s a perfectly fine top-nine winger. He plays hard and is incredibly good at puck retrieval when he’s on his game.

However, he no longer fits the Islanders’ mold for this roster. In recent training camps, a slow camp for a player with the term usually resulted in little consequences. Players who could avoid waivers would be sent down. Tsyplakov could’ve had this same training camp and still been sent to Bridgeport for potential seasoning.

Instead, Lamoriello and Roy drew their line in the sand. Engvall gets squeezed out, and the waiver wire decides his fate. His contract has six years remaining at $3 million per year. Could a team like the Columbus Blue Jackets claim him? Sure, but it feels incredibly unlikely. The most likely result is Engvall heads to Bridgeport, where he’ll be looked upon as a leader for that younger team.

Wait, Bolduc and Fasching, Too?

Bolduc, a former second-round pick, failed to show any consistency in his game during training camp this go-around. After stronger camps from Cholowski and Hutton, the Islanders exposed the 23-year-old.

There’s a real chance a team could gamble on the inexpensive Bolduc. I’d look squarely at the Anaheim Ducks, whose assistant coach Brent Thompson coached Bolduc in Bridgeport.

The most likely Islander to get claimed to me is Fasching. Fasching, 29, entered the camp in a strong spot, but a mid-camp lower-body injury derailed his momentum and opened the window for Wahlstrom and Gauthier to take his spot as the 12th or 13th forward.

Any team looking for a reliable depth forward with some speed and skill could take a chance on Fasching. The Islanders do not want to lose him and presumably hope he sneaks through in the chaos of waiver wire day.

 

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