New York Islanders: The best internal options to play alongside Mathew Barzal

Trying out the Young Guns

The team does not have an excessive amount of high-level prospects, but they have two players that could help the team this season. 20-year old Oliver Wahlstrom and 22-year old Kieffer Bellows are both players looking to take the next step. While a third-line role may be a better fit than playing top-line minutes for the up and comers, it may not be a bad idea to try either of them out alongside Barzal.

Starting with Wahlstrom, we saw him play in nine games at the NHL level this past season. Head Coach Barry Trotz did not see enough of a reason to keep him up, sending him down to the AHL in order to play more and work on his craft. After netting 10 goals and recording 12 assists in the AHL with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Wahlstrom believed he might get a chance to at least travel with the team to the Canadian Bubbles. Unfortunately for him, that was not the case. Following the conclusion of the Islanders’ run, Wahlstrom decided that it was best to go to work on his game overseas as he was loaned to AIK, a team playing in Hockey Allsvenskan, a step down from the Swedish Hockey League.

With AIK, Wahlstrom got off to a hot start with two goals and two assists in five games. Unfortunately, an awkward collision with the boards in his sixth game has kept him out of the lineup, and he is still a couple of weeks away from returning.

Wahlstrom is uncontainable when he has the puck on his stick, with an ability to turn something out of nothing each shift for himself and his teammates. He also does an excellent job intercepting opposing passes, as he is very good at reading the plays in front of him.

Even though he could be a great fit alongside Barzal, he is a right-winger, and moving him to the left side, which he could probably do, is not a change the team wants to make at this time. Now he could take over in Eberle’s spot, which may happen in the coming years, but probably not right now.

When talking about Kieffer Bellows, he is a natural left-winger who saw a hot streak in the AHL lead to a glorious chance at the NHL level. After picking up an assist in his first NHL game and then two weird goals in his second NHL game against the Los Angeles Kings, Bellows seemed to be a reliable weapon. But over the next six games, he did nothing, leading to him being demoted.

A gifted scorer, Bellows is a one-dimensional player right now. In 52 games with Bridgeport, he scored 22 goals with nine assists. While plus/- is never a good thing to look at solely to define a player, he did have a plus/- of -16, an improvement on his -20 in 2018-19. Having a Coach like Barry Trotz at your disposal to fix defensive issues is excellent, but right now, he sits behind Wahlstrom on the depth chart.

Like I said earlier, the team could afford to part ways with Bellows if it meant bringing in someone, even if it is not as likely. Also, Barzal takes his fair share of penalties and turns the puck over at inopportune times. I much rather have a guy like Wahlstrom as a safety net to help out on defense.

Not to mention, we found out after the fact that Bellows had broken AHL policy when it came to banned substances, but the issue was handled internally:

Cracking the NHL roster at this year’s Training Camp is the top priority for both of these players. Third line roles, for now, seems like the best option for both lads, as it will be a fight to stay in the lineup each night. But anything is possible when you make the roster.

Anders Lee and Anthony Beauvillier are still better options as of now, however.