Islanders prospect daily updates, today’s games, and rankings

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QUEBEC CITY, QC – OCTOBER 11: William Dufour #22 of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens skates prior to his QMJHL hockey game at the Videotron Center on October 11, 2019 in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Mathieu Belanger/Getty Images) /

Here’s the first of what will be a daily feature on the website. Updates, today’s games, and rankings for New York Islanders prospects and players in the system.

I usually do these New York Islanders prospects updates via Twitter, but I’m going to switch and have them done here on the site instead. I can get to more substance here rather than being limited to 280 characters.

So here’s what I plan on doing on a daily basis:

An update on prospects that played the night before
What prospects are playing today
Update on my prospect ranking based on the previous day’s results

Prospect Update from Yesterday

Only one player in the Islanders system was “in action” last night:

William Dufour (Durmmondville Voltigeurs)

I say “in action” because Dufour didn’t actually play. The Islanders fifth-rounder from 2020 was listed as a scratch due to injury. For the third time over the last five games.

I reach out to the Voltigeurs for a comment on this most recent injury but hadn’t received word from them by the time this was published.

As I said, Dufour already missed a few games due to injury earlier this week. When I spoke to the team about that injury they assured me it was nothing serious and that he won’t likely miss much time. The team indicated he would be in the lineup shortly. And he was.

Dufour was in the lineup for games on March 4th and 6th. He picked up three points (two goals and a helper) to start a three-game scoring streak and to boost his numbers to 29 points in 23 games.

Hopefully, the team is just being extra cautious with the player and will be back in action again soon.

TORONTO, ON – JANUARY 4: Anatoli Golyshev #15 of Team Russia skates against Team Sweden during a semi-final game in the 2015 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship at the Air Canada Centre on January 4, 2015 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Team Russia defeated Team Sweden 4-2 to advance to the gold medal game against Canada. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /

Prospects (and players in the system) in Action Today

Just like the day before only one player in the Islanders system is in action:

Anatoly Golyshev (Yekaterinburg Avtomobilist)

Avtomobilist is currently in the Gagarin Cup playoffs out in Russia. Golyshev’s team is down 2-1 to Avangard Omsk. The Avto-Omsk matchup features a number of former NHL’ers that most of are all familiar with.

Alexei Emelin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Datsyuk, Nail Yakupov (currently out for Omsk), and even Bob Hartley who’s being the bench for Avtomobilist.

Golyshev was playing on Yakaterinburg’s top line but has since been forced to the third line after going scoreless over his last 14 games (including the playoffs). His last point came on January 19 in a 3-1 loss to SKA St-Petersburgh.

Obviously, that’s an awfully long time to go without a point. With 27 points in 53 games, this is one of his worst seasons in the KHL over his career. Which is perhaps why we’ve heard rumors that he might want to break his current contract with the only KHL club he’s ever played for.

I’m still not 100% sold that Golyshev is coming to North America next year. It’s entirely possible, but who knows. Again, he’d have to break that contract on his own and then take the risk of heading overseas to see if he can succeed where Jakub Sakrek failed just a few years ago.

It’s a big risk before considering the state of the world right now. I wouldn’t blame him for staying in Russia but trying to move to another club if he’s looking for a new challenge or a change of scenery.

*I don’t count Golyshev as a prospect anymore but merely a player in the system because the Islanders still hold his rights (indefinitely).

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – JANUARY 30: Oliver Wahlstrom #26 of the New York Islanders looks on during a time out in the first period against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on January 30, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

Prospect Rankings and Movement

I’ve recently revamped how I rank prospects. Not only did I define what is and isn’t a prospect, but I’ve gone through, compared, and ranked every player’s data from across every league they’ve played in.

The ranking still needs a bit of work but I’m at a good starting point to release the rankings. I plan on discussing my method in a bit more detail in a later post. But here are the top five prospects in the system and where the players who played yesterday and will play today, rank:

Oliver Wahlstrom
Kieffer Bellows
Noah Dobson
Samuel Bolduc
Robin Salo

Prospects rankings who are in action yesterday and today:

William Dufour 21st of 28
Anatoly Golyshev N/A

Dufour is playing VERY well for the Voltigeurs so you might be wondering why he ranks so low. Unfortunately, my rankings are mainly based on two things (1) points-per-game and (2) translation factors. The latter is the one that matters the most here.

Translation factors are a way to see how a player’s scoring rate in their current league would translate to the NHL. Here’s a quick overview of translation factors from Robert Vollman from 2015. (Note I’m using update factors.)

What you’ll quickly decipher here is that the QMJHL is one of the lowest-ranked leagues only the NCAA ECAC league is lower. That’s why Dufour is so low.

Golyshev doesn’t have a rank for reasons I already stated.

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