NY Islanders Aatu Räty, Simon Holmstrom remaining with varsity squad for now

On Wednesday afternoon, it was announced that the NY Islanders made a number of cuts to their preseason roster. Among the names on the list were Aatu Räty and Simon Holmstrom who both seemed to be headed to the AHL to begin their preseasons with the Bridgeport Islanders. However, Thursday's optional morning skate revealed that the Islanders' prospects remained on Long Island as they were on the ice with a few regulars such as Anders Lee and Josh Bailey who will take the ice on Thursday against the New Jersey Devils in their second-to-last preseason game.

Despite the two prospects remaining on Long Island, it's pretty easy to deduce why they're still with the main roster. Casey Cizikas left practice on Wednesday with an apparent injury and Oliver Wahlstrom, although skating on his own, is banged up as well. Those two players will likely sit out of any game action until their fully healthy in order to go into the regular season with a clean bill of health. Cal Clutterbuck and Scott Mayfield are also dealing with injuries.

At this time, no official recalls have been made for Räty and Holmstrom, so it remains to be seen how long the two will remain. The Islanders play their final preseason game against the New York Rangers on October 8th and then will have four days off until their season opener at UBS Arena against the Florida Panthers. That could spell enough time for Cizikas, Wahlstrom, and Clutterbuck (Mayfield doesn't apply as a defenseman) to recover from whatever ailment they've suffered.

Regardless, Räty and Holmstrom's remaining presence with the Islanders says a lot about where they fall on the depth chart. It seems that they're both the first center and winger respectively that will be recalled if/when the Islanders need an extra body. There's no doubt that the 19 and 20-year-old prospects will head to Bridgeport at some point, but there remains the outside possibility that if one or two forwards aren't available for the start of the regular season, we could see an NHL debut or two.