Forward Victor Eklund earned his spot on the New York Islanders’ opening-night roster.
While Mathew Barzal’s knee inflammation opened the NHL door a bit wider than it may have been a few months ago, I don’t get the sense Eklund would have been sent to Hamilton if No. 13 was ready to go.
He was dominant in rookie camp. He looked like a great fit in training camp, and while the point production wasn’t there in the three preseason games he played, it’s hard to put much stock into unmatched preseason rosters.
When Eklund made the team, I asked him his thoughts.
“I made game one. I need to make 83 more.”
Victor Eklund On Making Islanders, The Story Behind No. 38 & His NHL Dream
GRAVENHURST, ON — Victor Eklund arrived at New York Islanders’ training camp with as good a chance as any prospect to make the team.
That quote matters now.
Because while Barzal’s eventual return will force the Islanders to make a roster decision, Barzal shouldn’t determine Eklund’s future.
Eklund should.
In the first game of the season, a 2-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Eklund played the third-fewest minutes at 11:58, with 2:33 coming on the power play. He recorded two shots on goal and took a penalty.
It wasn’t the easiest game for Eklund, as the Maple Leafs matched Auston Matthews’ line against the Pageau line throughout the night.
“I thought he was good,” Islanders head coach Pete DeBoer said. “I thought he got better as the game went on. He got more comfortable. He had a couple of looks too. He could have scored, so yeah, I had no problem with his game at all.”
That’s what really matters over the next few games.
Not whether Barzal is skating. Not whether the Islanders need to open a roster spot.
It’s whether Eklund is showing he belongs.
“Thrive, not survive” is the phrase general manager Mathieu Darche always uses when discussing his prospects.
That should be the standard here.
If Eklund is thriving when Barzal is ready, the Islanders should look at the rest of the lineup and adjust accordingly.
If Eklund is surviving, not thriving, sending him to Hamilton becomes a much easier decision.
There are other pieces to consider.
When Barzal returns, defenseman Matt Kessel is likely to be waived, as the Islanders don’t need to carry eight blue liners on their roster.
Then comes the question of which forward comes out of the lineup.
Entering the season, the easy answer was to drop whichever of Casey Cizikas’ flanks on the fourth line looked worse and move Emil Heineman into a fourth-line role.
But Anthony Duclair was arguably one of the Islanders’ better players in the loss to Toronto and eventually swapped spots with Brayden Schenn, who had a rough go of things.
Heineman, who played most of his 5-on-5 minutes alongside Bo Horvat last season and set a career high in goals, moved to No. 14’s wing and scored a shorthanded goal off a Horvat assist to make it 2-1 late.
Simon Holmstrom also found himself back on the third line, on Pageau’s right, when DeBoer started moving things around.
It was one game, so none of those changes should be viewed as permanent, but the Islanders have options.
Eklund shouldn’t automatically be the one who gets squeezed just because he’s waiver-exempt and easy to send down.
At the same time, that waiver exemption — and his contract situation — can’t be ignored.
If Eklund doesn’t play 10 games in the first year of his NHL entry-level deal, which slid last season, it would slide again, giving the Islanders another year of control.
That matters in a salary-cap world.
But it shouldn’t outweigh what he’s showing on the ice.
There’s a scenario where Eklund forces the Islanders’ hand.
We saw something similar with Matthew Schaefer last season.
Before Schaefer became the club’s No. 1 defenseman, he started his NHL career on the third pairing alongside Scott Mayfield. It quickly became clear he needed more minutes and could handle them.
Eklund’s rise up the depth chart may take longer than a few games, but his talent in so many areas, especially in transition, gives him a chance to do the same.
I have reservations about Holmstrom lasting on Horvat’s left because he’s had chances on the top line in the past and struggled to hold onto that role.
If Eklund plays well enough, maybe he eventually gets that opportunity.
Maybe he earns more than 11 or 12 minutes. It’s hard to showcase yourself when you are only playing 11:38 minutes.
Maybe he makes it impossible for the Islanders to send him anywhere.
That’s the ideal scenario.
The Islanders want to make the playoffs. They want to win hockey games. But they’re also focused on getting their young players to that next level.
Not all paths are linear.
Eklund is going to be a heck of an NHLer, but if he’s not ready to thrive at this level yet, is spending time in Hamilton really the worst thing in the world?
If he’s going to play limited minutes on the third line, there’s a legitimate argument that playing every game on the top line and top power-play unit in the AHL under head coach Jay McKee could be better for his development.
I wrote about that this summer, and it remains true.
But the decision shouldn’t be made because Barzal comes back. It should be made because of what Eklund shows before he does.
Eklund is the future and the way forward! Let’s stop with the stop gaps, and the hope and the prayer a vet all of sudden turns into something better. DuClair, Engvall Mac Maccelli are what they are and have always been. Taking playing time from Eklund or sending him down will not help make the playoffs. Eklund should be stapled to JGP all year no matter what!
As in the famous phrase "separate the wheat from the chaff," it means sorting valuable things or people from worthless ones.
We have had too much chaff on this team for far too long. Commit to the kids or serve the fans the three day left overs? I’m tried of the left overs and the excuses! Eklund is the last person I would take out of that lineup!!!!! Forward at any cost build around Schaefer. This organization needs to make the playoffs it’s not going to be possible with the leftovers they have proven that over and over again. Patty in my opinion did a great job with this team last year. Pete is a more experienced and established head coach who is expected to advance this team. Eklund ain’t the reason we lost 2-1 in Toronto! Pete and Bo need to push this team, will this team like a Nathan McKinnon does with the Avs. It’s ok to be an asshole and push if winning is important. Winning in this case is qualifying for the playoffs!