On March 19, the New York Islanders signed Russian prospect Anatolii Golyshev to a one-year deal. The 26-year-old forward has been in Russia since the Islanders drafted him in the fourth round of the 2016 draft.
In the eight years with Yekaterinburg Avtomobilist, the left-wing has put up 108 goals and 208 goals over 368 games played. The hard-working forward had carved out a strong career in what is without question the second-best hockey league in the world before making the predicted transition to North America.
Now signed, Islanders fans have wondered what the Isles have planned with the seemingly talented winger. Where will he play once he arrives in North America and successfully completes his quarantine? On Saturday, we got a sense of what the Isles plans were for their newest Russian player.
New York Islanders loan Anatolii Golyshev to Bridgeport
As the Sound Tigers took to the ice for the first time in nine days, CT Posts Michael Fronabaio reported the Tigers lineup and that Golyshev was on the team’s roster (but wasn’t in Bridgeport).
Digging a little further it seems that the New York Islanders immediately loaned Golyshev to the Sound Tigers after signing him. The AHL has a website dedicated to transactions and it’s there that you’ll Golyshev’s loan from the Isles listed as of March 19.
Clearly, the plan is to have Golyshev play a few games in Bridgeport and assuming it goes well he could join the Isles for the remainder of the season/playoffs. The Sound Tigers season ends on May 8, the same day as the Islanders regular season ends.
Getting Golyshev on the ice with the Sound Tigers is the smart approach in order to get him acclimatized to North America. Getting him used to the speed of the North American game is going to be step number one for him.
I imagine once he makes his debut he will skate in Bridgeport’s top-six to play with some of the Sound Tigers’ more skilled players, but we’ll see what Brent Thompson has planed for Golyshev. For now, we know the Isles plan is to have him get some reps at the AHL level before potentially making the leap to the NHL