A summer of a lot of turnover will lead to a younger Islanders team for the new campaign.
The 2025-26 season was an interesting an chaotic one for the Charlottetown Islanders.
They possessed a very good forward core that allowed them to score quite a few goals, but gave up just as much the other way. In the end, it saw them finish fourth in the East and losing in the first round to a young Remparts team.
That could be seen as a bit of a disappointment, especially considering the talent the Islanders had on display. Now, they'll need to start a retool after many of their key players have aged out, and under a new coach for the first time in a long time with John Mitchell now leading the way.
The Charlottetown Islanders are about to embark on more of a rebuild. (Photo: Jonathan Roy)Ivan Ryabkin was an offensive dynamo in his short time with the Islanders, but he's gone now. Nathan Leek, Marcus Kearsey, Brady Peddle, Dylan MacKinnon and Ross Campbell have all left as well.
So, it's time for a new generation of Islanders to come through. The team has signed three new imports this summer in Oleksii Kryvonos, Artem Mate and Leonards Aleksandrs Grundmanis, but has stayed pretty quiet in terms of any other moves, save for a trade to acquire Cameron Holyoke from Moncton and the signing of Kage Flory.
It seems like the Islanders will rely on their internal youngsters in first-round pick Aslan Tremblay, Jude Herron, Antoine Provencher and Nolan Duskocy, as well as their new imports to pick up bigger roles, and see how they grow this year.
Also, when you consider how competitive the Maritimes will be this year, it may not be the worst year to retool for Charlottetown.
In full, the Islanders will be getting younger with a good amount of turnover for the new season.
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