Islanders prospects report: Update on players who aren’t at training camp

The latest New York Islanders prospect report is out. This week’s focus is on the guys who aren’t at the Islanders 2021 training camp.

We’re three days out from the New York Islanders 2021 season opener at MSG. The roster isn’t sorted out but we’re getting close. Today, the Islanders sent a number of players out on waivers. None of those players were one of the Isles promising youth players.

Guys like Oliver Wahlstrom, Kieffer Bellows, Otto Koivula, and even Sebastian Aho are still in the mix. Where exactly remains to be seen. According to Arthur Staple most could be “off roster” at the start of 2021.

So interesting times still ahead for some of the Islanders prospects at the top of the system. Skipping over the guys at camp, how is the rest of the pipeline?

Rest of Prospect Pool

Robin Salo (Orebro)
Season stats: 29GP, 4G, 15A, 19pts, 22:17 ATOI

Salo continues to be a top defender for Orebro and in the SHL. It’s reasonable to think that the Islanders will sign him once the SHL season is done. But as of last month, the Islanders hadn’t yet spoken to Salo about their plans for him according to HockeySvergie’s Uffe Bodin.

The video is in Swedish but Uffe was kind enough to translate his conversation about hte Isles with Robin:

"”I’ve been thinking about it, but we’ll see what the Islanders want to do too. Everything is kind of open because of the times we live in. Maybe the deadline will be extended too. They haven’t been able to tell me what their plans are, so that part is out of my hands. I can only play as good as I can.”"

Alexander Ljungkrantz (Brynas)
Season stats:
J20 – 16GP, 8G, 7A, 15pts
SHL – 9GP, 0pts, 3:07ATOI
Hockeyettan – 1GP, 0pts, 18:33ATOI

After Ljungkratnz was sent out on loan to Hockeyettan side Stromsbro, I spoke to their coach Christofer Eriksson about Ljungkrantz’s role with the team. Eriksson (who was at Brynas before getting the Stromsbro gig) knows Alexander very well and was very excited to have the Isles draftee with his team.

"Alexander’s gonna have a big role in our team! I have known Alex since he was 11-12years. And I have coached him before when I was coach in Brynas. He will get the chance in one of our 2 powerplay lines! Alex is a great choice! He will be a fantastic hockey player. He has a bright future. He is an amazing person."

I was also able to get more data on Alex than is publicly available, such as ice times. In his first game for Stromsbro, Alexander saw the ice for 15:33 of 5on5 time and then about three minutes of power-play time. That’s way more than he was getting with Brynas where his season-high ice time was 9:11, total.

Alex Jefferies (LW | Merrimack College)
Season stats: 6GP, 3G, 2A, 5pts

Merrimack is back on the ice and Alex Jefferies hasn’t scored?! What is happening? When I spoke to his coach just before Christmas, he made sure to warn me that this might happen. Merrimack has lost its top three centers due to injury for a significant portion of the season. Jefferies is a true freshman that’s having to adapt to a new league and now new linemates he’ll take a hit on the scoresheet but he’s still an effective player and will bounce back.

Collin Adams (University of North Dakota)
Season stats: 11GP, 5G, 6A, 11pts

Adams is riding a four-game goal streak and a five-game point streak after a two-point effort against Colorado College. He’s also averaging a 53.4% efficiency on the face-off dot. His efforts have UND up to second on the most recent program ranking in Div 1 hockey.

Logan Cockerill (LW | Boston University)
Season stats: 2GP, 2G

Boston U has finally hit the ice. It’s been a long wait but captain Logan Cockerill has been able to start his first season with the ‘C’ on his jersey. In his second game of the season, the Isles seventh-round pick from 2017 put up two goals including this short-handed breakaway tally.

Jacob Pivonka (C | Notre Dame)
Season stats: 12GP, 1G, 3A, 4pts

He’s not putting up a ton of points for Notre Dame, but Pivonka has been incredible when it comes to faceoffs. Pivonka holds a 61.3% efficiency for faceoffs. He’s won 157 of 256 faceoffs this season.

Ben Mirageas (D | Providence)
Season stats: 10GP, 1G, 15, 6pts

Ben Mirageas was having another quiet season for Providence until January 2. Mirageas is riding a three-game point streak with six points over his last three outings. He’s already doubled his points total from 2019-20 where he had three points in 26 games. I’m not sure what changed, but I’ll try to find out.

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Here’s the rest of the prospect pool for the Islanders:

Christian Krygier (D | Michigan State): 12GP, 1G, 1A, 2pts
Ruslan Iskhakov (TPS): 18GP, 2G, 6A, 8pts
William Dufour (Voltigeurs): 8GP, 6G, 4A, 10pts
Anatoly Golyshev (Avtomobilist): 37GP, 11G, 14A, 25pts
Matias Rajaniemi (Pelicans):18GP, 2A, 2pts,13:36ATOI
Reece Newkirk (Melville Millionaires | SJHL): 12GP, 4G, 8A, 12pts
Henrik Tikkanen (IPK): 9GP, 2.55GAA, 0.901SV%