Line Combos: Who grabs the 4th line open spot?

[Kevin27NYI]

Am I safe to assume Holmstrom and Tsyplakov have the other two spots in the top nine?

Engvall has the contract so I’d assume he’s not getting moved but that doesn’t mean he’s not getting health bombed for someone else.

Added Fasching despite injury because for all we know he’s back in a week. Foudy also hasn’t been sent down yet so I think it’s worth putting him in the poll.

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[Lek]

none of them is a solid "yeah, that's the guy" guy. But Wally has the most upside with his shot so i would give him the first shot at it.

 

[seafoam]

I am thinking they don't want to start the season with Sorokin on LTIR (because not only would he have to miss a minimum of 10 games + 24 days), but also because NYI would not be accruing cap space either.

Now, if Sorokin is not going to be ready (or medically cleared) to play within the next 10 games (and 24 days), then that changes things a bit.

With that said, here is how I understand cap space accruals. You're team's cap hit/192 days is the amount of cap space you are accruing as each day passes. If NYI were to start the season (22 man roster as of 10/07 when they need to be submitted) with the following, they would at $87,812,500 in cap and have $187,500 in cap space.

Duclair-Horvat-Barzal
Tsyplakov-Nelson-Palmieri
Lee-Pageau-Holmstrom
Foudy-Cizikas-Gauthier
Wahlstrom

Romanov-Dobson
Pelech-Pulock
Reilly-Mayfield
Bolduc

Varlamov
Sorokin

This would require waiving the following players:
Engvall - I can't imagine anyone is touching him with that contract
Fasching - 29 years old and still working his way back from injury, Wahlstrom on the other hand is 24 and has an NHL caliber shot, still some value there.
Hutton - 29 years old and clearly not a viable long term NHL option
Cholowski - Good camp, but he's played less than 10 NHL games over the last two seasons. Bolduc on the other hand played 34 games last season and is still 23, there is value and upside there.
Karlstrom - 26 years old with less than 10 NHL games under his belt in his entire career. He could be an option down the line, but he needs to go to Bridgeport and tear it up with Chris Terry first.

Now, I know it's going to be brought up, WTF is MacLean? Simple, he's exempt from waivers and would be sent down on paper and recalled on October 10th for the Islanders' opener.

At $87,812,500 cap hit divided by 192 days (the length of the season), how I understand it is that the Islanders would accrue $457,356.77 in cap space per day. So if you multiply that number by three days and add it to their starting cap space, they would mathematically be able to fit MacLean's 775K cap hit by the season opening and he would complete the 23 man roster.

Then you would have Bolduc as your extra D and Foudy (left shot C/W) and Wahlstrom (right shot W) as your extra forwards. I am not going to lose sleep over waiving any of Engvall, Fashing, Karlstrom, Cholowski, or Hutton. Engvall waits in the wings and is forced to earn his spot back on the roster or wait for an injury (same with Fasching).

 

[doublechili]

If Lou/Roy want a new "identity line" (ie., energy, disruption, etc.), Cizikas and MacLean make up 2/3 of what you'd want. For the other 1/3, Engvall and Wahlstrom don't really fit the bill, although they might provide more offense if they're looking to roll 4 lines that can be at least a bit of a threat to score (or have a guy who can fill in top 9 in case of injury). Gauthier or Foudy might fit the energy/disruption part better, the scoring not so much. So it might depend on what they want. I've kind of forgotten what it is the Fasching provides.

 

[MJF]

It should be Foudy but he is the one easiest to send to the AHL and be the first call up.