Islanders prospects daily: Robin Salo nearing end of SHL regular season

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.

Prospects update from yesterday

• Reece Newkirk (Winterhawks)
  • Stats: 2A, 3SOG, 48%FOW
  • Season stats: 6GP, 3G, 5A, 8Pts
• Robin Salo (Orebro)
  • Stats: 2SOG, 17:05 TOI
  • Season stats: 50GP, 6G, 24A, 30Pts, 21:11 ATOI

Newkirk continues to lead his team in points. He’s up to eight points on the season after picking up two helpers against Mathew Barzal‘s old side, the Seattle Thunderbirds. That team lead in points for Newkirk includes a four-point lead over Seth Jarvis. The Carolina Hurricanes first-round pick (13th overall from 2019), has four points on the year.

Salo and Orebro have one more game on the regular season on April 3. It’s been a strong year for Salo who’s 30 points so far on the year have him sit eighth in scoring for defensemen. Playoffs are scheduled to begin a few days after the regular season is over.

At the moment, Orebro sit fifth in the standings, but anything less than a win (regulation and overtime) could see them slip to sixth.

New York Islanders prospects in action today

• Josh Ho-Sang (Linkoping)

Maybe. Maybe he plays today. I’ve done some digging and reached out to the team again to try and find out what is going on with Josh Ho-Sang. At the time of writing, I haven’t heard from the team on why Josh Ho-Sang isn’t playing.

When asking around, various sources have told me that Ho-Sang has been a healthy scratch. That’s not necessarily new information but this does seem to indicate it’s not injury-related.

Linkoping has two games left on the schedule (including this one). They are currently two points out of a playoff spot. They play Lulea today – who are hoping to jump above Robin Salo’s Orebro in the standings – before ending the season with a game against HV71 who are in last place.

It’s entirely possible he returns to the lineup for one of those two games, but Linkoping is riding a three-game winning streak without Ho-Sang. It’s also just as likely that they keep him out of the lineup and keep that winning formula intact.

Signing Watch Update

It sounds like Islanders prospect Logan Cockerill could be staying at BU for a fifth year rather than go pro. Based on the CBA, he’s set to become a UFA on August 15, 2021.