START OF THE SEASON SALE: 15% off with promo code “Isles Fix”
New York Islanders: A to Z will introduce a new generation of fans to the legendary players, magical moments, and colorful 50-year history of the Islanders.
Contributions from Brendan Burke, Stan Fischler, Chris King, and Jiggs McDonald.
You can purchase it HERE
A portion of the proceeds goes to the Islanders Children’s Foundation.
Good Morning, Islanders Country.
The Islanders never make it simple, do they?
Ross Johnston is on the Islanders’ 23-man roster, and Simon Holmstrom is not with the expectation that come Saturday night vs. Buffalo, Holmstrom will be in the lineup, and Johnston will (hopefully) end up in Bridgeport.
That’s the Islanders plan and intention after Johnston, who perhaps remarkably, has been part of the team for seven seasons, was placed on waivers on Monday. To become cap-compliant by the 5 p.m. deadline, the team needed to loan the waiver-exempt Holmstrom with the intent to recall him.
The criticism of Johnston from the fanbase has been partly due to the multiple long-term contracts he has received from Lou Lamoriello. The Isles GM signed him to a four-year deal in 2018 and then a four-year extension in 2021.
He’s done his job when called upon but has appeared in just 134 games over seven seasons. And while his $1.1M AAV salary cap hit is modest, every contract counts in a flat cap world. Ultimately, the signing of Julian Gauthier, the emergence of Hudson Fasching, and the versatility of Holmstrom led to Johnston being placed on waivers for the first time.
"He's someone I'd grown very close to at the rink and away from the rink. And an unfortunate part of this business is you always seem to lose your friends," said Matt Martin in The Hockey News. Lamoriello likely delayed Johnston being placed on waivers a day to increase the chances that he’ll make it through. So, while Martin won’t see his close friend only a daily basis, there will likely be an opportunity at some time this season when he is back in the Isles room.
Coming up, the 23-man roster is set before it changes again. Plus, Mayfield says they are not the same old Isles, Long Island’s own Shane Pinto is unhappy, John Pickett sells to Spano and an opening night scarf.
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: The 23-man roster was submitted to the league on Monday, with the Islanders having two goalies (Sorokin, Varlamov), seven defensemen (Aho, Bolduc, Dobson, Mayfield, Pelech, Pulock, Romanov) and 14 forwards (Barzal, Cizikas, Clutterbuck, Engvall, Fasching, Gauthier, Horvat, Johnston, Lee, Martin, Nelson, Pageau, Palmieri, Wahlstrom).
The rhetoric all off-season from the national media is that the Islanders are “running it back” with the same veteran core from last season. That argument doesn’t really hold water for several reasons, but the simplest is that the numbers don’t lie. Compared to the 23-man roster submitted last season, the following players are not on this year’s team: Josh Bailey, Anthony Beauviller, Kieffer Bellows, Zach Parise, Nikita Soshnikov, and Robin Salo.
If you add Johnston, that means 7 of 23 players are different - that’s over 30% of the roster year-over-year!
To that point, Andrew Gross of Newsday asked some players their view that they are just the same old Islanders.
“You can view it as the same group, or you can view it as we had two pretty key players that didn’t get to play a full year, and then we had our All-Star [Mathew Barzal] being out for the long stretch coming into playoffs,” defenseman Scott Mayfield said. “I don’t really view it as the exact same team,” Mayfield continued. “I like the makeup of the team. We’ve had some success, but we’ve got to make sure we find that next level.”
You can read Gross’ five keys to the Islanders’ season HERE
◾️ After being held out of the preseason finale against the New Jersey Devils, Hudson Fasching and Pierre Engvall were back on the ice. Meanwhile, Cal Clutterbuck was not with an illness. Head coach Lane Lambert expects the fourth-liner to be ready for Opening Night.
◾️ Per Ethan Sears of the New York Post, forward Jackson Cates is still on his PTO, but with Bridgeport instead of the Isles, per the team. As a refresher, Cates has appeared in 20 NHL games and 102 with the Philadelphia Flyers AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Debuting with the Flyers in 2021, he joined the team immediately after his season ended with Minnesota-Duluth. Throughout his NHL career thus far, Cates has only managed two points (one goal, one assist) while playing mostly a checking role with Lehigh Valley.
⏭ NEXT UP: It’s the regular season! The Islanders open up the 2023-24 campaign at home against Tage Thompson and the Buffalo Sabres. Face-off from UBS Arena in Elmont is at 7:30 PM EDT.
📊 STANDINGS:
◾️ A Long Island Islander? Franklin Square’s native Shane Pinto remains without a contract as he and the Ottawa Senators continue to discuss terms on an extension, with seemingly neither side willing to budge.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported last week that the Senators offered him a one-year deal worth $1M, upsetting Pinto.
"I will say this. I don't think Shane Pinto is getting traded. I don't," said Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast. "But it wouldn't surprise me if the Islanders were one of the teams kicking the tires there. That's where he's from, they'd like that."
I agree, Eliotte! The Islanders would love a 22-year-old hometown kid who scored 20 goals last season. But as he said, it’s unlikely he gets moved, and if there is one fanbase that actually gets upset by being linked to trade targets, it’s the Isles.
📚 SOUND SMART: Did you know that Ross Johnson is from Suffolk? Not Suffolk County, Suffolk, Prince Edward Island, the same Canadian province where defenseman Noah Dobson grew up. Johnston was raised on his family's beef farm with his older brother, Will.
🎥 ISLES REWIND: On Oct. 10, 1996, Larry Brooks and Peter Botte of the New York Post reported that Islanders majority Owner John Pickett has agreed to sell the "beleaguered, underfinanced" team to 32-year-old TX billionaire John Spano. Terms of the sale, believed to be "well in excess" of $100M, specify the Islanders will not be moved from Long Island.
That same day, Ken Moritsugu of Newsday reported Mets part-owner Nelson Doubleday was interested in buying the Isles -- but that an unnamed source in Nassau County had told him "another buyer" was close to a deal. Doubleday's investor group would have been led by his Sterling-Doubleday Inc., which would have "put up most of the money."
🎧 Islanders Anxiety - My Favorite Thing and My Least Favorite Thing “Mike and Dan begin their eighth season of Islanders coverage by looking at the preseason and ahead to changes in the team's media coverage, and making oddly specific predictions”
🔗 Same old Islanders? Veteran returnees, Lou Lamoriello beg to differ by Andrew Gross, Newsday “It’s not debatable the Islanders, who open the season against the Sabres on Saturday night at UBS Arena, are virtually the same group that lost to the Hurricanes in six games in April. Or that they are, again, another year older.”
And we leave you with this…the Islanders released their full promotional schedule, starting with this scarf, presented by UBS, that will be handed out to all fans in attendance for the home opener on Saturday.
Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter for regular updates until the next newsletter.
And please check out our newsletters about the Knicks and Mets, too.
Nice attempt at spin, but the more important point is who did they replace those 7 spots with?