The Islanders Week That Was

If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times, the most important aspect of pre-season is that nobody on your favorite team gets hurt.

So far, so good for the New York Islanders, with the exception of Kyle Palmieri currently skating on his own.

Now we get to the significant young fellows.

In one way or another the following have impressed:

William Dufour, Julien Gauthier, Matthew Maggio, Oliver Wahlstrom, Simon Holmstrom and Ruslan Iskhakov

As long as Palmieri is out you have to figure that right wings Wahlstrom and Holmstrom have a mortgage on the right side. The other righty, Gauthier, just could be the spanking new right guy in that vital role.

But the reality is that one week and two exhibitions -- another tonight at UBS vs. Rangers -- tell us precious little in terms of the opening night lineup.

The loss to the Blueshirts was about as meaningful as a high school prom. 

Wednesday night's win over Philly intrigued me a bit more because Mat Barzal was one of the three stars, artfully setting up a goal.

Let's face it, Barzal wasn’t intending to set up Holmstrom when he deflected a Travis Mitchell point shot, but an assist nevertheless. 

I’m looking forward to more Matty, the impending first line Mat-Bo Horvat marriage will be as closely watched as an LIRR train pulling into Elmont Station just as you arrive.

Or, specifically, the enormous question is this: will Horvat produce big points as he did in his career year? Barzal will have a lot to say about that. (But The Maven is getting ahead of himself.)

Scoring is the one factor that most concerns me. Goaltending, leadership and camaraderie are my least concerns.

We'll get to more serious stuff next week during which I expect Gauthier to pull a tighter knot on the right wing package left by exiting Josh Bailey. I also figure that Samuel Bolduc will squeeze into the sixth defense slot.

Power play formations will be tested along with penalty-killing duos which no doubt will feature members of the Identity Line.

As for the "I Love A Mystery" Department, we should know more about the whereabouts of Palmieri and just how soon we'll see his smiling mug on the ice.

Or, as my Eastern District High School bandmaster Al Scheer liked to say: "Stay tuned."