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

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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?

PLUS

Bolduc is still young at only 23 years old. Aside from youth, he has the size that every general manager in the league looks for in a defenseman. At 6'4" and 220 lbs, he possesses the size and strength to battle for the puck in front of the net or in the corners.

Despite not being much of an offensive force in the QMJHL, the Islanders selected Bolduc 57th overall in the 2019 NHL Draft.

In his third season in Bridgeport, Bolduc broke out of his offensive shell, putting up the best numbers of his career, scoring 10 goals and adding 25 assists in 56 games earning him his first NHL call-up.

Despite not revealing his offensive prowess at this point in his NHL career, Bolduc displayed some of those skills in the Islanders' final regular season game.

Sitting in the press box for nearly three months, Bolduc drew back into the lineup against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Though it was a meaningless game for the Islanders it was anything but that for Bolduc, as it was his final opportunity of the season to prove to his coach he belonged at this level.

Bolduc scored a goal and had a helper in a 5-4 Islanders win, in what was a performance Roy hopes to see every day out of his young defenseman

MINUS

While Bolduc has the size and strength to become an everyday defenseman in the NHL, he hasn't yet learned to utilize that part of his game. He's been soft in corners and soft on the puck to this point in his career - something Noah Dobson has only recently become better at. When matched against the opposition's top line, especially on the road when the home team has the second change, teams can exploit Bolduc's unwillingness to engage physically.

From any interviews or even at the Islanders night with the fans, when the players spoke to season ticket holders at UBS Arena, it's apparent that Bolduc is a kind, soft-spoken person, who hasn't yet learned to flip that switch on the ice.

He's shown very few glimmers that he can be trusted to play every night, and as the seventh defenseman, he is the Islanders' best option at this point if and when injuries occur. It's tough to say the organization would be comfortable sending him out there every night if they hope to contend in the Metro Division.

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

PLUS

MINUS

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