Islanders prospects daily: Bridgeport players move up in ranking with win

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New York Islanders prospect Otto Koivula #12 of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. (Photo by Gregory Vasil/Getty Images) /

Here’s your daily recap of yesterday’s games, updates, and rankings for New York Islanders prospects and players within the system.

Welcome to your daily recap for New York Islanders prospects! You’ll find an update on stats from prospects in action yesterday, a round-up of who’s playing today, and I’ll tell you how some of those prospects in action yesterday are doing in my prospects rankings.

Prospect Update from Yesterday

Reece Newkirk (Portland Winterhawks)
- Stats: 1G, 2SOG
Bridgeport Sound Tigers Stats
- Simon Holmstrom: 1G, 2SOG
- Samuel Bolduc: 1G, 2SOG
- Otto Koivula: 1G, 1A, 4SOG
- Dmytro Timashov: 2A, +2

In the first game of the WHL season for the Portland Winterhawks, Reece Newkirk nets his first goal of the year. It was also the team’s first goal of the season. Coming in off the rush, Newkirk gets to the slot, fires a shot, and pops home the rebound that basically falls off the goalie.

The 20-year-old has been steadily improving as a player, putting up 65 points in 55 games last year. He’s a very important player for the Winterhawks and should lead the team offensively yet again this year.

The Sound Tigers broke their three-game losing streak by picking up an OT win over the Hartford Wolf Pack who are also struggling in the AHL this season. Otto Koivula, who was a healthy scratch the last time out, scored the OT goal for the winner. It seems like Thompson’s tactics paid off.

Samuel Bolduc continues his impressive run in the AHL with his third goal of the year. His seven points in ten games lead the Sound Tigers in points so far this year. You don’t expect a rookie pro on the blueline to lead the team in scoring, but here we are.

New York Islanders prospect Henrik Tikkanen Used by permission from KalPa Hockey Oy /

Prospects (and players in the system) in Action Today

Henrik Tikkanen (KalPa)
Ruslan Iskhakov (TPS)
Matias Rajaniemi (Pelicans)

All of the New York Islanders Finland-based prospects are in action today. Even goalie Henrik Tikkanen, who gets his seventh start for KalPa. Just in case you forgot, he’s had an incredibly impressive start to his Liiga career.

Through his six games, Tikkanen is 2-2-2 with a 1.75GAA and a 0.931SV%. I spoke to his GM not too long ago and he told me there’s more to Tikkanen than just a big goalie. He’s more than just a 6’8″ who blocks shots in the net.

After having his seven-game scoring streak and TPS’s win streak cut, Ruslan is certainly hoping to get back on the scoresheet and power his team to a win. That win would put them into second over HIFK, but the Helsinki side has been sidelined for a few weeks, so end-of-year seeding might come down to points/game.

Standing in Iskhakov and TPS’s way is Matias Rajaniemi and his Pelicans. The Isles sixth-round pick from 2020 put up his third goal of the season in a 3-2 loss to the top team in the Finnish league. Rajaniemi scored after being a healthy scratch the night before for “squad rotation” purposes. He’s in the lineup today according to the official lineup card.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – JUNE 22: Samuel Bolduc poses after being selected 57th overall by the New York Islanders during the 2019 NHL Draft at Rogers Arena on June 22, 2019 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Light/Getty Images) /

Prospect Rankings and Movement

Samuel Bolduc ↑ : With his third professional goal, Bolduc leaped both Mitchell Vande Sompel and Robin Salo for fourth in my rankings. Third, on my list is Noah Dobson, and Bolduc is catching up quickly.

Now, this doesn’t mean that Bolduc will be better than Dobson, but it shows that the Isles 2019 second-round pick is an NHL-worthy prospect. He won’t make the jump anytime soon unless the Isles are decimated by injury, but I would certainly expect him to push (and probably earn) a spot on the 21-22 team.

Cole Coskey ↑: With his second goal of the season, a blast from the Ovie spot on the power-play, Coskey moves up to number eleven on my rankings. At number 10 is Otto Koivula. I don’t see Coskey passing him soon, but the fact that he’s ranking close to a border-line NHL’er is promising.

He’s only played half of the game for the Sound Tigers this year, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him be more of a constant in the lineup. The seventh-round pick in 2019 looks comfortable playing a man’s game after making the jump from the junior level this year.

Simon Holmstrom ↑: Another player who picked up a point yesterday versus the Wolf Pack. But the Isles first-rounder in 2019 isn’t anywhere near some of the other players in his Islanders draft class. Based on my rankings he sits 21st in my rankings.

His poor production rate at the AHL, SHL, and in the Allsvenskan isn’t helping at all. He’s a smart player but it’s not manifesting itself on the scoresheet just yet.

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