While the NHL’s preseason is still over a week away, rookie camps are underway across the league. As part of programs, various teams get together for prospect tournaments. In these events, various teams hosting multiple teams for a round-robin style slate of games. 29 teams are partaking in these rookie showcase games, but the New York Islanders are not one of them.
The Islanders haven’t been a team that builds from within for a long time. For the past few years, their prospect pool sat near the bottom of the league, and a lot of pieces aren’t close to making the big club. However, if the Islanders want to change that impression, exposing prospects such as William Dufour or Simon Holmstrom could do the team some good. With prospect action well underway, how could the Islanders get involved in these showcase games?
Various Options Available
Looking at the tournaments going on right now, there are various options for the Islanders to take part in. In Buffalo, the Sabres are hosting five other teams for their Prospects Challenge, including the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins. The New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers also played a series of games on their own, with Philadelphia hosting the Blueshirts. With various Metropolitan Division rivals traveling across the Northeast, the Islanders could easily cling on with one of those teams. In fact, the Washington Capitals are also one of the teams not involved in rookie showcases, so a four-team event of the Rangers, Caps, Flyers, and Islanders could get those two teams in on the action. As a result, with these tournaments a common occurrence throughout the league, the Islanders can easily cling onto the various options available.
Why Involvement is Important:
When teams send their prospects to these showcases, it shines a light on the future of their organizations. Various NHL regulars appeared in these exhibitions, giving those at the top a valuable look at their upsides. Take 2015’s showcase in Estero, Florida, featuring the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Capitals, and Nashville Predators. Names on the rosters included Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli, Washington’s Jakub Vrana and Vitek Vanecek and Nashville’s Viktor Arvidsson and Kevin Fiala. Most of these names have made their marks across the league and, in some cases, won the Stanley Cup. In this year’s showcases, top picks Adam Fantilli and Connor Bedard each took the spotlight with big games for Columbus and Chicago respectively. While the Islanders don’t have the prospects that match the notability of those two, sending them to rookie tournaments can give them needed expsoure and an opportunity to impress Lou Lamoriello and company.
As a result, when looking around the league, the Islanders need to get involved in a prospect showcase soon. With 29 teams giving their rookies the opportunity to face other teams, Islanders prospects could learn from this experience before the regulars begin camp and potentially impress Isles brass. Whether or not the Islanders get involved is completely up to those at the top, but with how certain players have learned from those experiences, it makes sense for the Islanders to get involved in a rookie showcase next year.
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Featured image courtesy of NHL.com
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