NY Islanders 2022-23 player report card: A learning experience for Samuel Bolduc

Samuel Bolduc's road to the NHL has been a roller coaster ride in the last few years, but in the 2022-23 season, he finally broke through. Bolduc was called up to the NHL and made his debut with the NY Islanders on Jan. 3rd against the Toronto Maple Leafs. In his debut, he showed poise and good enough skating ability to play in the NHL, and he stuck around for another 16 games following his debut in the 2022-23 season.

*Read our previously published player report cards:

- Sebastian Aho |Josh Bailey | Mathew Barzal

New York Islanders 2022-23 report card: Samuel Bolduc

Despite showing poise and skating ability to remain in the NHL, Bolduc still had his growing pains. On March 25th against the Buffalo Sabres, Bolduc was benched for extended periods of after being credited with four giveaways in just under 12 minutes of ice.

“Every night is a night of learning and experience,” Bolduc told the NY Post. “Sometimes there’s some nights where things are not gonna go as well as other nights. Just need to learn how to manage those nights. Like I said, every night’s learning. You can learn a lot.”

Still, he was depended on down the stretch of the regular season when the Islanders were still battling for playoff position, averaging about 14.5 minutes of ice time and offering physicality with his 6-4, 220lb frame.

It was a short sample size and he wasn't perfect, but Bolduc showed some good things that give the Islanders brass reason to believe he'll be just fine moving forward. For holding his own with just a few blips here and there, Bolduc gets a C in his first real taste of the NHL.

With some uncertainty surrounding Scott Mayfield's pending free agent status, Bolduc could be a regular on the Islander blue line next season.