Boston Bruins claim Oliver Wahlstrom off waivers from the NY Islanders

Oliver Wahlstrom's career with the NY Islanders has come to an end as the 24-year-old winger was claimed off waivers by the Boston Bruins.

Drafted 11th overall in 2018, Wahlstrom made his debut with the Islanders in 2019 playing nine games before playing the remainder of the season in Bridgeport. He stuck with the big club starting in the 2020-21 season, playing 44 games and scoring 12 goals.

Wahlstrom to the Bruins

During the 2022-23 season, Wahlstrom was off to the best start of his NHL career, with 16 points (7 G, 9 A) through 35 games before his season ended abruptly after a torn ACL. Wahsltom struggled to return to his normal self, playing only 32 games last season where he scored just two goals.

Wahlstrom signed a one-year extension with the Islanders in the off-season, making the team out of training camp after Pierre Engvall was surprisingly placed on waivers. Wahlstom played in 27 games this season, scoring twice and adding two assists while playing a fourth-line role. He never looked fully comfortable embracing that role and was placed on waivers yesterday ahead of activating Mat Barzal and Anthony Duclair off LTIR.

The Islanders provided Wahlstom with opportunities time and time again, but the sniper they drafted in 2018 never amounted to the player they hoped for.

Wahlstrom will have an opportunity to resurrect his NHL career in his home city. Wahlstrom's first big hockey moment game at TD Garden during his days as a kid, scoring a lacrosse-style goal during intermission of a Bruins game. Now he'll don the spoked B with a Bruins team that is struggling to score goals.

There were high hopes for Wahlstrom on Long Island, but after his injury, he's been unable to find any sort of consistency in his game. He finishes his Islanders career with 36 goals and 35 assists in 220 games.