Islanders Mini Camp Roster: 2018 draft picks and AHLers with something to prove

The New York Islanders announced the roster for their prospect mini camp this week, and fans will get to see seven of the eight new faces added through last weekend’s 2018 NHL draft.

They’ll also see a couple of 2014 first-round picks who have spent time in the NHL, and are facing pivotal seasons with the organization.

Joshua Ho-Sang (listed with his Bridgeport uniform number, 26) and Michael Dal Colle (listed with #71, if the former made you think Lou has already eliminated all un-established non-traditional numbers) will both be in the camp, even though they no longer have to be.

Ho-Sang was demoted after making the roster last season and fumed when he felt scapegoated. Dal Colle received his NHL debut later in the season — getting a callup ahead of Ho-Sang, who’d battled injuries — but has not established himself as a scorer even at the AHL level, enduring a lengthy slump in 2017-18

Also in the fold will be Czech goalie Jakub Skarek, drafted last weekend, as well as fellow fresh 2018 picks Oliver Wahlstrom, Noah Dobson, Brody Wilde, Jacob Pivonka, Blade Jenkins and Christian Krygier. Russia-based second-round pick Ruslan Iskhakov is the only new pick who won’t make it.

Top goalie prospect Linus Soderstrom, whose season in Sweden last year was cut short by hip shoulder surgery, will be in attendance. He’d been slated to make the jump to North America this fall, so they’ll no doubt want to check in on his progress. Eamon McAdam, who split time in the ECHL and AHL last season, is the other Isles-affiliated goalie in the group.

Other names of note include:

• Kieffer Bellows, expected to make the Bridgeport roster in the fall but gunning for the Isles
• David Quenneville, signed at the end of last season after his junior season ended
• Sebastian Aho, who made the jump to North America last year and saw significant time in the NHL
• Ben Mirageas, who had an outstanding year at NCAA Providence
• Robin Salo, who remained in Finland last season
• Andong Song, the super-longshot pick who was the first China-born player selected in the NHL draft

Ho-Sang and Dal Colle aren’t the oldest ones in camp. Those honors go to 23-year-olds like McAdam, Nikolajs Jelisejevs (most recently of Dinamo Riga (Latvia) in the KHL), Chase Berger of NCAA Penn State, Michael Babcock (evidently NHL coach Mike Babcock’s son) of NCAA Merrimack, and Sound Tiger signing Ryan MacKinnon, a Prince Edward Island native who knows fellow PEI kid Dobson.

The full roster, outlined here by the Isles, includes 30 forwards, 17 defensemen, and six goalies.

Per usual, they’ll break up into two groups for separate skates, which will take place Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Thursday features a public scrimmage at Northwell Health Ice Center (tickets available here, $15 donation to Islanders Children’s Foundation). Saturday’s camp-ending scrimmage is closed to the public.