Busy offseason coming for Islanders
This offseason is going to be a busy one for the Islanders.
Expect lots of changes and big events from Charlottetown this summer, with the excitement beginning in a little over a month as the Islanders host the 2016 QMJHL Entry Draft at the Eastlink Centre.
The draft on June 4th will be the first major event for Islanders Head Coach Jim Hulton in his new role as General Manager.
“Step number one is you get through your draft to see what you have coming in, and see what happens in free agency,” said Hulton, who took over as GM on Friday after the team announced it would not be renewing the contract of Grant Sonier.
The Islanders have 12 picks for this summer’s draft as of right now, their highest pick being the 17th overall pick from Val-d’Or. As the host team, they may try to add to that.
Four of Charlottetown’s picks from the 2015 draft last year ended up spending the full season with the team: Matt Welsh, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Carl Gervais, and Shawn Boudrias.
“I think our future’s very bright,” said Hulton. “We’re excited with the quality of our underagers – we had four 16-year-olds who played regular shifts for most of the season. That’s not that common here in junior.”
Some of next year’s Islanders could begin their QMJHL careers this Spring at the Eastlink Centre.
The front office won’t be the only part of the team that looks different at the start of the 2016-17 season. Turnover is inevitable in junior hockey, with teams losing players to age limits and professional hockey every year.
There will be lots of turnover for the Islanders next year.
“Every year in junior, the complexion of the team changes,” said Hulton. “We ended up with an older team with the moves we made at the deadline, so there’s gonna be a lot of moving parts this summer.”
The team currently has nine 1996-born players on its roster, and of those nine, only three can claim a spot on the team next season as a 20-year-old.
Those nine players include Bradley Kennedy, Kameron Kielly, Samuel Blais, Filip Rydstrom, Jake Coughler, Nicolas Leblond, Jonathan Duchesne, Guillaume Beaudry, and Mason McDonald.
Two of those players – Blais and McDonald – have professional contracts and are expected to play pro hockey next season.
“I would anticipate it,” said Hulton. “With both of them having signed a contract and being eligible to play in the American League and the East Coast (Hockey League), I would think the next step in their progression is that.”
That leaves seven players to battle for three spots.
If McDonald isn’t back in an Islanders uniform next season, Hulton is confident that Matt Welsh can step up and take over the Islanders’ crease.
“I’m excited. You see the progression that Welsh made – if Mason does in fact graduate to the pro ranks, we think Matt’s ready.
“That’s a lot to ask of a 17-year-old, but boy, he’s certainly exceeded expectations.”
Another player who could be a question mark next season is the same player who was a question mark for the team early this season: Daniel Sprong.
Sprong spent half of the 2015-16 season with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and hopes to crack the Penguins lineup full time next year.
“I can be a full-time NHL player,” he said. “I made the team out of training camp and I’ll have to do the same thing this year again. I really hope next year I can be a full-time NHL player.”
If Sprong does make the Penguins full-time next season, he’ll have nothing but fond memories of his time in Charlottetown.
“(Sunday) night was pretty emotional after the game, knowing that it could be my last junior game. It’s been a great ride here in P.E.I. if it was my last game.”
But for now, Sprong is in Pennsylvania to help out the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in their AHL Calder Cup playoff run and hopes to impress the big club while he’s there.
“I’m excited to show I can play pro hockey on a consistent basis and just try to help that team,” he said before leaving Charlottetown earlier this week. “I’m in playoff mode right now, my mind hasn’t changed at all.
“They’re a very good hockey club and I’ll try to play a role that they want me to play and try to be successful there.”
It’s so far so good for Sprong, who has played just two games but already has a pair of goals, including an overtime winner.
Next year, the Islanders will also of course be without their three graduating players: Dexter Weber, Alexis Vanier, and Captain Oliver Cooper.
Vanier, a San Jose Sharks prospect, will likely end up joining the Sharks organization next year, while Weber and Cooper have both said the university path is an option for them.
Even though the team will inevitably be losing players over the summer, Hulton is excited with what he still has to work with.
“You look at Mitch Balmas who had 20 goals in his second year, (Keith) Getson’s emergence in the playoffs. With (Will) Thompson and (Luc) Deschênes as locks on the blue line, along with Pierre-Olivier Joseph, there’s a lot of building blocks.
“Like any junior team, we have holes to fill and that’s part of the job of the summer, but that’s the exciting part.”
The games may be over for the Islanders for another season, but there’s never really an offseason in the world of hockey. Lots will happen between now and the beginning of training camp in August.
