Victor Eklund putting in the work with battle Islanders roster spot ahead of him
The Islanders don’t want to rush their prospects, and as underwhelming as this offseason was, they will head into training camp about a month from now with a depth chart Victor Eklund will need to earn his way up.This probably did not play into the rationale for keeping around Ondrej Palat, Anthony Duclair and Pierre Engvall — if so, it was a very small piece of the puzzle.But it is a good situation for Eklund’s development.The Islanders’ depth chart on the wings ensures a competitive training camp in which Eklund will not be given a spot by default.
It is also highly likely that, if Eklund isn’t part of the roster Sept.29 in Toronto, circumstances will conspire to get him a chance sooner rather than later.This is not a redux of Matthew Schaefer, who walked into the NHL like he was armed with a machine gun against machetes.
Almost nothing is.The 19-year-old Eklund, who played most of last season with Djurgårdens, his hometown SHL club, will occupy a similar role in the upcoming training camp as Cal Ritchie did a year ago.Ritchie, recall, came into camp as the obvious 24th man on an eventual 23-man roster.
He excelled throughout and made it obvious he would be in the NHL sooner rather than later before a minor injury spared the Islanders from making what would have been an incredibly tough, albeit inevitable, decision to send him to Bridgeport.He ultimately played one game in the AHL before being promoted, and spent the season with the Islanders.Should Eklund follow a similar path, his 2026-27 season would be a rousing success.“I think the question is not if he’s going to be able to play in the NHL.
The question is how much can you get out from him to his maximum, if you know what I mean,” Michael Holmqvist, a Djurgårdens assistant coach and Eklund family friend, told The Post on Sunday, “because I think a lot of players can survive playing and doing the job, getting the pucks out, getting the pucks deep and stuff like that and be an energy gu...