Hudson Fasching was a force for the New York Islanders a season ago. Despite earning a two-year extension, the 28-year-old knew a starting spot wasn't guaranteed, and after being a healthy scratch the last few games, he shared his mindset with The Hockey News.

EAST MEADOW, NY -- Hudson Fasching was a force for the New York Islanders a season ago. Despite earning a two-year extension, the 28-year-old knew a starting spot wasn't guaranteed.

After a strong training camp ending with an injury, Fasching earned a starting role, skating with Jean-Gabriel Pageau to start the season. But after three games, the Wisconsin native found himself watching from above.

"He's just been okay. I think, for me, there's more there, and I look forward to seeing it," Islanders head coach Lane Lambert said ahead of the Islanders 3-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres this past Saturday.

Fasching was scratched Tuesday night against the Colorado Avalanche. 

At Wednesday's practice, Fasching was an extra yet again, as it appears he'll sit for a fourth-straight game on Thursday when the Islanders square off against the Ottawa Senators at UBS Arena. 

The Hockey News caught up with Fasching to get insight into his mindset about his current situation. 

"Obviously, you want to be out there. You want to be helping your team, but you try to have a positive attitude about it," Fasching told The Hockey News. "There's no reason to get down on yourself. You want to try and maintain your confidence so when you get another opportunity, you feel good about yourself and feel good about your game. 

"It's part of the deal. It's part of the job."

Being a healthy scratch and waiting your turn is nothing new for Fasching, as that's kind of defined his professional hockey career. 

THN did ask Fasching if he was healthy given the injury in preseason. While he certainly could have used that as an excuse, he said he was 100 percent healthy and felt good physically. 

Fasching isn't one to make excuses about anything. He's been honest since day one on Long Island, and it's clear his character, work ethic, and leadership were something that enticed the Islanders to sign him ahead of the 2022-23 season. 

The question now is, how does Fasching get back to playing the game he brought consistently a season ago?

"Sometimes it starts early, and you're trying to create opportunities. You want to do things to help the team, and you want to try to stay in the lineup, obviously," Fasching said. "So, it's trying to find a balance of forcing plays and trying to still create plays, you know?

"Where's that risk-reward line? And, I think a lot of time, in the games that I played, we spent a lot of time in the defensive zone, and that's just part of it. Sometimes there's just not a lot of opportunities, not a lot of time to make plays. So, you have to be patient, not get frustrated with it, and just consistently make the right plays for the team."

It sounded like Fasching was maybe trying to do too much. 

"I mean, a little bit," Fasching said. "I think,  you play your first couple of shifts, you're stuck in the defensive zone, or you forecheck, and you don't get it back. And then it's like, okay, well, I haven't done anything. I got to do something out here.

"And then you lose patience. Then you try to force a play that maybe you should have made a safer play on it. [That play] wasn't necessarily there, but you're forcing it a bit. So, I think that's kind of where my mindset was at. You got to make the right play."

Just because Fasching wasn't on the ice for the last two games doesn't mean he's not learning from watching. There's value in seeing the game from above.  

"I think you see things, in systems and details, that you have to be more dialed on," Fasching said. "I mean, you come back off after the offseason, the game moves fast. Sometimes, you miss a read here and there, and you can definitely see those things [from above].

"I think, too, I had a little bit of an injury in preseason. And so it's making sure your body's dialed in, and you're trying to get to 110 percent and really feel good about everything internally, too. So I think that that's something else you can kind of focus on when you're all the way up."

Competition is something Fasching's had to deal with at every point of his hockey journey, and he thinks it makes him a better player. 

"It's what we always live for," Fasching said. "Like, we're all competitors here, and we all live for that, and it's always having. I found out I play better under a little bit of pressure and under a little bit of stress. 

"You don't want to get complacent. You're not getting complacent when you know you got a lot of guys coming up."

As for Fasching's discussions with Lambert, he's taken every constructive criticism as a positive. 

"I don't feel any animosity from coaches or anything," Fasching said. "I mean, look, I'm so grateful that they gave me the opportunity to be here, and I think that's kind of my mindset is, just stay grateful and try to keep working hard.

"Whenever that time comes, try to make the most of it and help the team as best as I can."

Following this conversation with Fasching, THN asked Lambert about what he was seeing, not seeing from Fasching.

"Put it this way. He started training camp really well. He had a little setback, and he's getting back into it," Lambert said. "I thought he was skating better at the start of training camp. But for him, again, it's not necessarily as much what he's not doing. We have players, and we want to use all options and create that competition.

"He just has to keep doing what he's doing and working hard every day in practice. And the same with Gauthier, or whoever it might be. That's the joy of having that internal competition."

Fasching's work ethic got him to this point, and although he is a late bloomer and maybe an extra lately after bursting onto the scene in 2022-22, there's no question that he's a rather important part of the Islanders and what they're trying to do this season. 

The critical thing for Fasching is that when he gets his next chance, he finds a way to be effective and show Lambert that he can be the consistent spark plug he was a season ago.