NY Islanders prospect Samuel Bolduc named AHL All-Star

The NY Islanders organization got some good news on Wednesday through their affiliate team, the Bridgeport Islanders. Defenseman Samuel Bolduc was named an AHL All-Star and will attend the 2023 AHL All-Star Classic in Laval, Quebec on Feb. 5-6.

Bolduc is having a superb bounce-back season following a 2021-22 season that didn't go as planned for the Laval, Quebec native. In 57 games last season, Bolduc scored just two goals and seven points, struggling to string together any consistency. This season, he's turned things around quite a bit.

Bolduc is the fourth leading scorer of all Jr. Islanders skaters with 23 points (six goals, 17 assists). That total also ties him for sixth overall in the AHL among defenseman. In 115 AHL games that have all come with Bridgeport, Bolduc has amassed 44 points (14 goals, 30 assists).

This is the second All-Star nomination for the Islanders prospect as Bolduc previously was named an AHL in the 2019-20 season. In the shortened 24-game season, Bolduc totaled six goals and 14 points.

Bolduc is a former second-round pick by the Islanders in the 2019 NHL draft, 57th overall. He impressed then-head coach and associate Barry Trotz and Lane Lambert when he attended Islanders training camp heading into the NHL's bubble play. Now, he's continuing to make his mark at the second-highest level in professional hockey and appears to have some sort of NHL future ahead of him.

The Islanders continue to develop defense prospects well as a team that has five of six homegrown defensemen on their blue line including Noah Dobson, Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock, Scott Mayfield, and Sebastian Aho. Bolduc appears headed in that same direction and could be part of an already deep blue line moving forward, or alternatively, has made himself an intriguing name for GM Lou Lamoriello to dangle at the trade deadline in order to upgrade the varsity Islanders.