Samuel Bolduc needs to step his game up if he hopes to remain with the NY Islanders this season

Taken in the second round in 2019, Samuel Bolduc hasn't developed the way the NY Islanders may have hoped. It appears he'll enter the season as the team's seventh defenseman, but is it a role he can hold on to? We take a look at the plus/minus of Samuel Bolduc for the 2024-25 season.

It wasn't the first full season as an NHLer that NY Islanders defenseman Samuel Bolduc would have hoped for.

After an All-Star caliber season in the AHL during the 2022-23 season with the Bridgeport Islanders, and finishing the season with the big club, Bolduc made the Islanders roster out of training camp. Expecting to split time with Sebastian Aho as the team's sixth defenseman, Bolduc was thrown into the fire earlier than expected after injuries started mounting up along the blue line.

In and out of the lineup through the first four months of the season, Bolduc seldom saw the ice after Patrick Roy took over head coaching duties from Lane Lambert. After the Isles new bench boss took the helm, Bolduc only appeared in four games between Jan. 31 and April 17.

Bolduc appeared in 35 games last season, scoring 2 goals and adding 3 assists. He's in the final year of a 2-year contract with an $800k cap hit.

He'll enter the season as the Islanders' seventh defenseman, and with the team pressed against the salary cap ceiling, Bolduc will be thrust into action if a defenseman is forced to miss any time. Is it a position he and the Islanders are comfortable with?

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