Pierre Engvall happy to be back with Islanders
Pierre Engvall of the Islanders skates during the first period against the Florida Panthers at UBS Arena on Saturday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Pierre Engvall has always looked the part of somebody who should be impacting the game consistently. The Swedish wing is a lanky but solid 6-5 with acceleration and speed to beat defenders along the walls and a hard wrist shot to finish plays.
Those are the tantalizing skills that Islanders president/general manager Lou Lamoriello wanted when he acquired Engvall from the previous team he ran, the Maple Leafs, just prior to the trade deadline in 2023. That’s the potential Lamoriello was paying for when he subsequently locked up Engvall with a surprising seven-year, $21 million deal.
But inconsistent efforts have held Engvall back. It’s left him as a bottom-six wing — he will start on the fourth line for the second straight match since being recalled from AHL Bridgeport as the Islanders face the Ducks on Tuesday night at UBS Arena — battling to prove to coach Patrick Roy he deserves a full-time spot in the lineup.
It’s not what the Islanders nor Engvall expected when training camp opened.
“If you’re scratched, you want to get back in,” Engvall said in his first comments since being recalled from his surprise demotion to Bridgeport. “If you get sent down, you want to get back up.”
The 28-year-old Engvall’s six-game stint with one goal for Bridgeport marked his first AHL action since 2019.
“I got to play a lot,” Engvall said. “I’m happy to be back and it feels good.
“I think for me, just coming back up, I just want to compete every night and do my best. At the end of the day, that’s all you can do.”
Engvall had 10 goals and 18 assists in 74 games last season but was twice made a healthy scratch when Lane Lambert coached the team and then once more after Roy took over. He then struggled through training camp — Roy specifically pointed out he was a minus-5 — before being sent to Bridgeport. Lamoriello said on Saturday that Engvall’s demotion was meant as a wake-up call.
“I don’t think he’s used it as anything negative,” top-line center Bo Horvat said. “He’s come back, he’s worked hard at practice. I think he’s using this as a motivation tool. You have to respect a guy like that. He’s not going to put his head between his legs and feel sorry for himself."
Meanwhile, the Islanders, who lost top-line left wing Anthony Duclair to a lower-body injury five games into the season, have struggled to fill out their fourth line without Cal Clutterbuck, who was not re-signed as an unrestricted free agent. Clutterbuck’s longtime linemate Matt Martin, re-signed off his professional tryout offer, made his season’s debut in Saturday’s 6-3 loss to the Stanley Cup champion Panthers at UBS Arena and, per Roy, will be back in the lineup on Wednesday night when the Islanders open a two-game road trip in Columbus.
Oliver Wahlstrom, a healthy scratch along with Martin on Tuesday, and Liam Foudy and Julien Gauthier, both reassigned to Bridgeport, have all had fourth-line auditions as well.
Roy said he’s looking for players to grab the 11th and 12th forward spots.
The issue is, though, the Islanders never expected Engvall to be lumped into that group.
There were top-six spots available in training camp. Duclair, signed to a four-year, $14 million deal, quickly showed he belonged with Horvat and Mathew Barzal. Russian rookie Max Tsyplakov, signed to a one-year, $950,000 deal, earned a role on Brock Nelson’s second line.
Still, Engvall should have been a candidate to round out Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s third line with Anders Lee.
“I think I’ve been ready the whole time,” Engvall said. “I want to play and I want to help the team win.”
Notes & quotes: Top-pair defenseman Alexander Romanov [upper body] will miss his second game since taking a hit from the Devils’ Kurtis MacDermid on Friday, though he finished that 4-3 overtime win at Prudential Center. Lamoriello said on Saturday that Romanov had not suffered a concussion and would likely just miss one game. Roy said on Tuesday Romanov had not suffered a setback and remained day-to-day . . . The plan is for goalie Semyon Varlamov to start against the Blue Jackets after making 22 saves against the Panthers, who scored six unanswered goals.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
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