Pierre Engvall among eight players waived by Islanders
Islanders left wing Pierre Engvall sets before a face off against the Montreal Canadiens in the second period of an NHL game at UBS Arena on April 11. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Pierre Engvall won’t be with the Islanders to start the second season of his seven-year, $21 million deal. He may not play for the team again.
The right wing, who did not participate in Sunday’s practice at UBS Arena that was open to fans, was the biggest surprise among the list of eight players placed on waivers on Sunday as the Islanders must cut down their roster to a maximum of 23 players ahead of Thursday night’s season-opener against visiting Utah. Players clearing waivers can be re-assigned to the AHL and the Islanders must be compliant with the $88 million salary-cap ceiling by Monday at 5 p.m. Only carrying 22 players is a strong possibility.
“He’s a top-six, top-nine forward and Max [Tsyplakov] earned his way into that role,” president/general manager Lou Lamoriello said of Engvall. “Not that he did anything wrong but he basically lost the job at this point. He’s not a bottom-six player.”
The best case for Lamoriello would be to find a trade partner and move Engvall’s contract (which he’s trying to do). His contract has an average annual value of $3 million and only $1.15 million of that can be buried if Engvall is re-assigned to Bridgeport.
Goalie Marcus Hogberg was also placed on waivers, indicating Ilya Sorokin will be available to start the season after he missed most of training camp and all six preseason games following offseason back surgery. He and Semyon Varlamov both practiced on Sunday and are the lone goalies remaining on the Islanders’ roster.
“I’m just trying to focus on every day,” Sorokin said. “It’s my typical answer. I do what I can do and we’ll see if I make progress.”
“It’s a good sign,” coach Patrick Roy said. “We’ll take it day by day and we’ll see how it goes but they both looked really good at today’s practice.”
Also placed on waivers on Sunday were forwards Hudson Fasching, Liam Foudy and Fredrik Karlstrom, defensemen Samuel Bolduc and Grant Hutton and goalie Jakub Skarek.
That means Dennis Cholowski is likely to start the season as the Islanders’ seventh defenseman after Bolduc, a second-round pick in 2019, served that role last season with two goals and three assists in 34 games. Roy had indicated both Cholowski and Hutton moved ahead of Bolduc because their play was more consistent.
“He’s still got tremendous potential,” Lamoriello said. “Patrick’s not wrong with what he said. You have to get consistency. But he’s still young.”
Up front, Tsyplakov, who signed a one-year, $950,000 deal after being fourth in the KHL last season with 31 goals, will open on Brock Nelson’s second line with Kyle Palmieri. Third-line center Jean-Gabriel Pageau will be between Anders Lee and Simon Holmstrom – taking the spot Engvall had to finish last season – and Oliver Wahlstrom is likely to open the season on fourth-line center Kyle MacLean’s right wing along with Casey Cizikas.
Julien Gauthier is likely to be the extra forward as Lamoriello said Matt Martin, still working with the Islanders on a professional tryout offer, will not receive a contract at this time.
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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