Both of the Islanders' last two coaches lacked patience with Oliver Wahlstrom. The current one seems to have reached the same point.
As both teams reshuffle their systems for Wednesday's game against the Bruins, Wahlstrom was taken off the power play and coach Patrick Roy said he's considering the 24-year-old, who has scored just one goal so far. I didn't suppress my emotions. season.
“I'll tell you this: If you look at the menu, there's a lot on it. It's a beautiful menu, and I still have an appetite,” Roy said. “He didn't do anything that made me feel like, yeah, the last game on the power play, he had two turnovers at the blue line. Five-on-five, he had two turnovers. He does a lot of good things, but everyone tells me he's a good finisher. I haven't seen it yet. So I'd like to see something like that.
“I think Wally is going to give us more than we've ever had before. That's my opinion. And I think he's a really good hockey player. But I want to be full. I want to see a little more. , I think he can do it.
“If it were me [out of] Line, I'll do that. [out of] But I think Wally can offer a lot more than he's been able to do five-on-five and I'm sure that gives him a lot of confidence. ”
For the time being, Wahlstrom remains in the Islanders' lineup, but Roy said he expects Hudson Fassing to return for Friday's game against the Capitals.
That will likely fall to either Wahlstrom or Matt Martin on the often-struggling fourth line.
Wahlstrom appears to have lived nine lives in an Islanders uniform, with various points appearing to be his last chance, and on the draft floor last summer, Lou Lamoriello was announced by the team as a restricted free agent. He said he would be willing to trade the rights to .
But that never happened. Instead, Wahlstrom re-signed to a one-year contract and had a strong training camp before joining the Islanders.
Now they seem to be back where they started.
If the Islanders come off long-term injured reserve, they could become a casualty of the roster cuts necessary for the team to comply with the cap.
But it's not clear when that will be, considering Mathew Barzal hasn't started skating yet and Anthony Duclair only recently started skating on his own.
Until then, he's likely to stick around and will likely remain in the lineup due to lack of better options.
