New York Islanders Luca Sbisa Isn’t Taking Anyone’s Spot

He’s back. After getting a surprising one-year deal with the New York Islanders (and not truly earning it) defenseman Luca Sbisa is back likely on a PTO.

Defenseman Luca Sbisa is back with the New York Islanders. According to Arthur Staple (subscription required), Sbisa is back skating with the team ahead of training camp opening up on the 12th of September.

That’s right. Luca “nine-games-is-worth-$1.5-million” Sbisa is back at camp with the New York Islanders. There’s no word that he signed a professional try-out (PTO) yet but even if he does it’s no harm no foul.

PTO

Again. Luca Sbisa only earned a nine-game stint between October 4th, 2018 and January 12th, 2019 with the Islanders last season. Scoring a single point and earning a -0.3 WAR. There’s a reason he only played those nine games. He wasn’t good enough to be on the team.

So should we be worried that Luca Sbisa is likely getting a PTO with the Islanders, again? No, of course not.

The Islanders already have seven defensemen on NHL contracts. All of them are better than Sbisa. And that’s not considering how close Noah Dobson is to the NHL.

There’s no room to add him to the roster. And there’s no reason to make room for him on the roster. Keeping Sbisa on a PTO keeps him around if the going gets tough and they need an extra body.

A PTO isn’t a standard NHL contract. It does not clear him to actually suit up for the Islanders. Now, it certainly keeps him around the team during practice but that isn’t a terrible thing either.

Sbisa might not be a great player, but he’s been in the NHL for eleven years. He knows what it means to be a professional and that could prove to be important for a team that could likely have five players under the age of 24 in the lineup this season. Including a 19-year-old Noah Dobson.

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Look. There’s no way he gets a $1.5 million deal again from the New York Islanders. If he’s still around at the trade deadline maybe he gets a small deal from the club. Just like Dennis Seidenberg got last season. But he’s not coming in and taking a spot from anyone.