Islanders' path forward, Oliver Wahlstrom's role and Alex Jefferies call-up? Mailbag, part 1

We put this call out a couple of weeks ago and circumstances injuries to Mat Barzal, Adam Pelech , Alex Romanov and your faithful correspondent here pushed it back a bit.

Apologies all round.

The New York Islanders are trying to tread water while Barzal, Pelech, Romanov, Mike Reilly and Anthony Duclair are out.

That may change the vibe around the team but it doesnt fundamentally change the vibe of these questions, which are decidedly unhappy in tone.

No surprise there given the Isles werent exactly tearing up the league before the injuries hit.

Advertisement So well kick off this two-part mailbag with a few big-picture questions and some smaller-picture ones about Oliver Wahlstrom and prospect Alex Jefferies.

Off we go! Note: Some questions have been edited lightly for length and clarity.

Simple question: Are the players simply lacking the talent or are we in the dreaded country club phase of this team? David F.

I know that the country club thing is a longstanding insult around these parts one day I might even get my once-and-current colleague Katie Strang, who got that quote a hundred years ago from an unnamed Islander, to tell us all the story of that amazing season but it genuinely doesnt apply to the group.

These Islanders are, perhaps to the franchises detriment, guys who try hard.

Call them slow.

Call them old.

Call them untalented.

But this is not a group that coasts and you can tell by how hard theyve worked to make the playoffs the last two seasons after diving into the deep end without knowing how to swim over the first 50 games of each year.

If this were a country-club squad, the Isles would finish bottom five in the league and have some high draft picks in the fold.

They dont.

I also wouldnt say theyre lacking talent, just lacking enough talent.

There isnt much depth and some of the core guys are aging out.

Thats my assessment.

Where do you believe Isles ownerships limits are with Lou Lamoriellos vision? It feels like the distance between the teams floor and ceiling is narrow, fan interest is waning, and there are little to no developmental elements that would inspire longer-term hope.

In short, the Isles as an entertainment product are stale and their potential is not inspiring.

I mean, I dont care what Lou thinks, this team needs a rebuild, hard stop.

Steven B.

Rebuilding is a big undertaking.

If you look way down at the bottom of the standings youll see some teams the Hawks for one, the Sharks , the Ducks , the Canadiens who have committed to full rebuilds.

Theyre all pretty bad teams and theyre going to stay that way for the foreseeable future.

Advertisement The Islanders dont really have the luxury of a full rebuild either.

They cant go the Rangers route, send out a letter to the season ticket holders and duck out of contending for a few years because Artemi Panarin chose not to sign with the Isles (or the Avalanche ) and went with the Rangers even though the team stunk and those other two teams were pretty good.

So the Isles have to retool, as the wording goes.

They have a No.

1 goalie, a couple of young top-4 defensemen and maybe five top-9 forwards.

Thats a decent start.

I couldnt tell you where ownership stands on this, but if Scott Malkin is planning to move on from Lamoriello after the season, Malkin needs to have a plan in place with his next GM to get started on whatever its going to be.

Several coaches have not been able to fix the disinterest of playing 60 minutes for the bulk of this roster.

Things are getting messy with Patrick Roy and Lamoriello.

What is going on with this group of players? Billy P.

As I said above: My view is a lack of depth and a core thats getting older and slower.

I wouldnt call it disinterest.

And the reference to Roy seemingly disagreeing with Lamoriello over the Pierre Engvall recall and the Matt Martin signing is probably overblown, as I wrote when it happened.

Engvall has been passable, maybe even OK, since his recall.

And Martin is clearly the 13th forward with a contract thats easily buried in the AHL if the Isles really do need the spot.

But yes, this is still a team that doesnt quite have enough in a few areas to be a real contender.

And might not have enough to even be a playoff contender, though its still early.

When a player like Oliver Wahlstrom, who has a ton of skill, doesnt make it after being given a hundred chances, whats typically the reason? Speed? Smarts? Bad luck? Michael M.

Its not one factor and a few of the ones you mentioned apply.

The main factor, for me, is that Wahlstrom is just miscast hes not a fourth-line player and he hasnt earned the right to move up the depth chart.

Advertisement Hes certainly trying.

His fight the other night with Jason Zucker in Buffalo shows Wahlstrom isnt just coasting around, waiting for his chance to play a more offense-forward role.

But hes not a crash-and-bang guy and thats certainly not how hes created offense when hes had the chance in prior years.

It was a mystery why the Islanders qualified him at all this summer.

A mystery why they signed him.

And its still a mystery, given he doesnt seem to fit here.

How does a team that loves each other so much allow Matthew Tkachuk to just abuse Semyon Varlamov with zero recourse? Mike W.

This happened in the 6-3 loss to the Panthers on Oct.

26 when Tkachuk got tangled up with Varlamov, grabbed the goalies stick, then cross-checked Varlamov ahead of scoring a funky goal.

Obviously there should have been a penalty for the cross-check theres no situation anywhere that a player is allowed to do that to a goalie during play.

But yes, I was also surprised no one on the Islanders even took a swipe at Tkachuk during the rest of the game.

And they didnt need Martin in there Anders Lee , J-G Pageau, Scott Mayfield and Kyle Palmieri are just a few Isles who could have and have gone after opponents in the past.

That was a low point.

Considering that the Islanders need a spark and that Bridgeport is doing even worse than last years last-place team at 2-6-1 is it time to promote Alex Jefferies? Neil T.

If you had to choose one, which of Jefferies, William Dufour or Matthew Maggio will be the player from minors most likely to come up and help us in the second half? D R.

Jefferies has had a solid start to his first full pro season, posting 9 points in nine games after 7 in 12 games at the end of last season.

He had a decent camp, nothing spectacular, which is likely why the Islanders chose to bring up some known quantities in Engvall and Hudson Fasching when the injuries hit.

If Jefferies keeps this up to January and the Islanders are still muddling along I could see the 23-year-old getting some NHL games.

Why not? Its not as if the Islanders have a bevy of forward prospects waiting in the wings.

(Top photo: Danny Wild / Imagn Images).

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