Will Oliver Wahlstrom be on the NY Islanders' opening night roster?

Oliver Wahlstrom returning to the NY Islanders seemed unlikely considering he filed for arbitration - but surprisingly the two sides agreed on a one-year deal worth $1M, putting the Islanders over the cap. Wahlstrom is no longer waiver-exempt, but his cap would be buried in Bridgeport if he were to clear waivers.

Teams are likely willing to take a chance on Wahlstrom, and considering Lou Lamoriello said he wouldn’t let Wahlstrom go for “free”, it's difficult to believe the Islanders would simply waive him. 

Could he take a spot on the roster?

Hypothetically the blue and orange could send down Maxim Tsyplakov to start the year and have exactly $0 in cap space opening night. While it's a possibility, it doesn’t seem likely. 

When Patrick Roy was hired he said he would give Wahlstrom a look. That “look” was a 10-game period where Wahlstrom was quite ineffective, though he was coming off a devastating season-ending injury the year before, taking months to rehabilitate. It looks like the chances of him returning are slim and with Lamoriello saying that he did not sign Tsyplakov to play in Bridgeport, all signs point to him starting the season on Long Island.

What could the Islanders do now with Oliver Wahlstrom? Well, it looks like he will still be moved before the start of the 2024-25 season. It could be in a trade for a big fish like Patrick Laine or Nikolaj Ehlers -or it could be more of a swap for another player who needs a change of scenery like Nick Robertson or Arthur Kaliyev. However, a like-for-like deal still leaves the Islanders over the salary cap, needing to dump a contract elsewhere. The Islanders could also look to gain draft capital to help build their prospect pool. 

No matter what the Islanders do it seems like Wahlstrom is on his way out and will be playing for a different team in 2024-25.