Islanders Holmstrom Missing Vital Piece, Squandering Top Line Opportunity
Can Simon Holmstrom find the net for the New York Islanders alongside Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal before preseason comes to a close?
With three preseason games left, New York Islanders head coach Lane Lambert is still trying to find the right player to skate alongside Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal.
Up first was 24-year-old prospect Arnaud Durandeau, the Islanders' sixth-round pick in 2017. The Quebec native played nine games with New York a season ago, showing off his defensive prowess but struggling to score on nine shots.
However, after struggling during one of the training camp scrimmages, Lambert shifted to 2019 first-round pick Simon Holmstrom.
The Swedish forward played 50 games for New York in 2022-23, but like Durandeau, he stood out for his defensive style, not his finishing ability.
In those 50 games, Holmstrom scored just six goals with three assists.
That's all fine and dandy skating in a bottom-six role, but now alongside the Islanders' newest dynamic duo, chances created need to illustrate themselves in the goal department to stick.
In Saturday's preseason affair against the New York Rangers, Holmstrom had three scoring chances per Naturalstratrick.com, catching pucks in the slot after strong passing from his linemates.
But on every occasion, the puck sailed high and wide.
We asked Lambert how he can get Holmstrom to improve in this area, the most vital area in the sport.
"You're trying to be a little too fine," Lambert said. "You're not wrong. You can't score if you don't hit the net.
"So it's just a matter of getting more opportunities and not trying to be too fine, in terms of that, because a lot of times, when you get that thing on the net, it finds a way in.
Holmstrom did earn the primary assist on Horvat's wrap-around goal, the Islanders' third of the opening frame, after finding No. 14 across the neutral zone in stride.
"He's kind of the guy that starts that whole thing," Horvat said on Holmstrom. "I mean, obviously Noah Dobson made a nice play to get it up to him, but for him to see me -- I was screaming for it -- and thankfully, he saw me because it's just always nice as a centerman to get the puck in full flight and obviously with lots of speed, it was nice to have him."
Where Holmstrom deserves credit is his speed, especially on a line with two players who can fly. He has a rather high I.Q., knowing where he needs to go in the offensive zone to get good looks.
"I feel like he's doing a good job. I really do," Lambert said. "I think that part of it, you know, as players get older and grow, I think there's some growth there as well."
During rookie camp, THN asked Bridgeport Islanders head coach Rick Kowalsky about Holmstrom and getting his confidence up after he went bar-down from the left face-off dot during a scrimmage.
"Well, if we could figure out how to bottle confidence, we'd all be making probably more money. It's just being put in situations," Kowalsky said. "With that being said, he can shoot the puck. But in the American League, he, at times, struggled to get it off quickly enough, create enough space, and then he missed the net a lot.
"I ran the power rplay down there. There were lots of times he had good chances. He missed the net. It's amazing. This is a high level of hockey -- the highest is the NHL -- and those little things are still important. You got to bear down in practice, shoot to score, and make sure you're hitting the net."
This offseason, the Islanders did not bring in the final piece to the Horvat-Barzal puzzle and now have three more preseason games and a handful of practices to figure out who works best there without disrupting other parts of the lineup.
Will Holmstrom win the job? Could we see Kyle Palmieri (day-to-day) play on the top line if and when he's able to return? Does Pierre Engvall and his speed allow that top line to be more of a weapon?
We will find out soon enough.