Islanders News: Räty, Dufour continue to produce at WJC

The August run of the World Junior Championships rolled on yesterday, with all four participating New York Islanders prospects in action.

In the afternoon, Aatu Räty didn’t record nearly as many points as he did against Latvia, but he scored Team Finland’s huge third goal—giving them their first lead of the game—and took five shots in Finland’s 4-3 shootout win over Czechia. The other two Isles prospects playing for Team Finland, Eetu Liukas and Matias Rajaniemi, made their tournament debuts.

During the evening, William Dufour recorded two assists as Canada trounced Slovakia, 11-1.

Islanders News

• Here is the Isles’ World Juniors tracker with all the recaps of our prospects’ performances. [Islanders]
• Räty has been skating on the top line for Team Finland and benefitted from a nice play by team captain Roni Hirvonen for the brief go-ahead goal.

• Räty, who says he has played almost all of his career at center and who views himself as such, hopes to make the Islanders in September but will be happy to play wherever they tell him. It’s going to be a quick turnaround for him, though: Finland to Edmonton to Finland to Long Island, all over two months. Maybe that’s why the WJC isn’t in August. [NY Post]
• Frank Seravalli pushed back on the idea that the Islanders and Nazem Kadri have a deal in place, reporting that Kadri’s representatives are still talking to other teams. [DFO Rundown | THN] But the smoke is still there; even Chris Botta said “probably” regarding Kadri. Also, he may have some inside knowledge about Noah Dobson’s contract.

• Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that Ilya Sorokin is back on American soil—and is also officially a Long Island–homeowner. [amNY]

Tangentially Isles-Related: Lehner Injury

• Old friend Robin Lehner, requiring hip surgery, will probably miss the entire 2022-23 season for the Vegas Golden Knights. Best wishes for a speedy recovery. [NHL | Knights on Ice]
• Having traded Vézina winner Marc-André Fleury for nothing two seasons ago, Lehner’s injury leaves Vegas with Logan Thompson and Lauren Brossoit in net. Lehner earns $5 million against the cap, which will go on LTIR; Semyon Varlamov also earns $5 million against the cap. That’s an option, because free agency really is not. [The Athletic]

Elsewhere

• Eddie Olczyk, a Chicagoland native and the former third overall pick of his hometown Chicago Blackhawks, has moved on from their broadcast booth, moving to join his former NBC Sports partner, John Forslund, with the Seattle Kraken. [NHL]
• Here is a round-up of all of yesterday’s action at the World Juniors. Team USA is 2-0. [THN]