Islanders prospect Matthew Maggio on a tough road to the NHL
Islanders rookie Matthew Maggio during the first on-ice session at prospect development camp on Thursday. Credit: Dawn McCormick
Matthew Maggio’s confession came during yet another bus trip for the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport last season, his first full professional season after finishing his junior career by being named the Ontario Hockey League’s most outstanding player in 2023.
That performance made him one of the organization’s more intriguing prospects — one who now fully understands how difficult a task it is to make the NHL.
“I remember him saying on the bus to Matt MacDonald, the assistant coach, ‘I didn’t think pro hockey was going to be this hard,’ ” said Bridgeport coach Rick Kowalsky, overseeing the on-ice sessions for the Islanders’ rookie camp that concluded Day 3 on Saturday at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow.
“A lot of these guys haven’t faced that adversity. The grind of it.”
Maggio, a fifth-round pick in 2022, notched 54 goals and 57 assists in 66 games in his last season with Windsor. He got off to a slow start with Bridgeport — eight points in his first 30 games plus a concussion — and finished with 16 goals and 11 assists in 61 games.
As a result, the 5-11, 191-pound right-shooting wing acknowledged that he brought a greater intensity into his third rookie camp with the Islanders.
“For sure,” Maggio said. “You come off a junior season, obviously it’s not the skill level that it is here. You kind of get to do what you want out there. So you come in with that confidence of I can kind of do anything. Then you come out here and you’re playing against the best guys in the world and you’re in such a structured environment, you definitely had to hone things in.”
The quick-skating Maggio listed being harder on pucks and being more reliable — read better defensively — as skills he needs to improve this season.
He spent time this offseason in Toronto training with former NHL standout and coach Adam Oates as well as five weeks in Vancouver skating with a group that included Islanders top-liner Mathew Barzal and budding Chicago superstar Connor Bedard.
Maggio also worked with his father, Rob, a strength and conditioning coach.
“I knew that I wasn’t as strong as I needed to be in the corners last year,” Maggio said. “When your dad is a strength and conditioning coach and you tell him you’re not where you want to be, he’s going to make sure he’s going to make your life pretty tough.”
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.
