NY Islanders: Calle Odelius appears to be remaining in North America

We're inching closer to the start of the regular season for the NY Islanders, as the roster was trimmed to 24 players, with players now reporting to Bridgeport as the B-Islanders training camp is set to begin.

All players who needed to pass through waivers before being assigned have now cleared, as a face they may not have expected to join the group in Bridgeport will now potentially make his North American professional debut.

Back in May, hockeynews.se reported that Calle Odelius, the former second-round pick of the Islanders, intended to return to Djurgårdens of the HockeyAllsevnskan in Sweden for the upcoming season. Odelius spent parts of the last two seasons for the Swedish club but was assigned to Bridgeport as of Friday and looks to be sticking there.

Odelius appeared in one pre-season game for the Islanders, logging 16:44 of ice time and blocking three shots. Being his first professional game of any sort on the smaller North American ice, Odelius's play impressed Isles bench boss Lane Lambert.

"I thought he was pretty good, his mobility, his skating," said Lambert following the 6-5 loss to the NJ Devils. "There were times when potentially he could have moved the puck quicker, but you could say that about all our D-men."

Earlier in training camp, Odelius had mentioned there was a chance he could remain in North America this season. With the Swedish hockey season well underway with Djurgårdens playing five games so far, if he were to return to Sweden, he'd likely be there by now.

Odelius has had intentions of joining the Islanders organization at some point, as he signed his entry-level contract with the organization shortly after being drafted in 2022 - but it appears we'll be getting our first look at his earlier than anticipated. The Bridgeport Islanders kick off the campaign on October 13 on the road against the Rochester Americans. It seems as if Odelius will be kicking off his career within the Isles organization, looking to work his way quickly to the NHL.