Islanders roster: Oliver Wahlstrom return overshadowed by veterans

Leading up to the New York Islanders game against the Pittsburgh Penguins the team made a move to bring Oliver Wahlstrom up from the taxi squad to the NHL roster.

But his return to the NHL lineup is being overshadowed by some of the other decisions the Isles have made in the lead up to tonights’ game.

According to Arthur Staple, it seems that one of Leo Komarov or Ross Johnston is in the running to take a spot on the third line next to Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Oliver Wahlstrom.

New York Islanders lineup decisions continue to confuse fans

I feel bad for Arthur Staple’s mentions because they’re about to be flooded with a ton of angry Islanders fans. Although, I’m sure he’s used to angry Islanders fans in his mentions when he releases the team lineup.

According to Staple, the Islanders could very well lineup like so vs. the Penguins:

Lee-Barzal-Bailey
Dal Colle-Nelson-Eberle
Komarov/Johnston-Pageau-Wahlstrom
Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck

We’ve already seen enough of Leo Komarov and Ross Johnston to know that neither will give this team anything valuable, yet Trotz continues to push them out there. For reasons.

And it’s not as if the Islanders don’t have better options to play on the left side of the third line.

After a strong debut for the Isles, Austin Czarnik certainly deserves another look on the third line. The 28-year-old winger can play on the PP, the PK, he’s a good forechecker at 5on5, and perhaps more importantly he seems to be effective offensively.

Kieffer Bellows is also sitting there on the taxi squad after a good enough start to the year. The 19th overall pick in 2016 has been a good it on the third line next to Pageau and Wahlstrom, but the three haven’t had any consistency to build on their good play this year.

Hopefully, the Islanders have some sort of change of heart come puck drop. If not, hopefully,  Komarov or Johnston can be a positive addition to the squad in order to justify their inclusion.