Islanders News: Rights released, peering at prospects, loving legends

Not a lot, still, going on in Islanders Country during the final stretch of the summer’s quiet days, but our roundup today includes some prospect paperwork plus some good talk about the past and the future.

Islanders News

The Islanders appear to have let the NHL rights to a couple of NCAA draft picks lapse without signing them by this week’s deadline: 2018 selections Jacob Pivonka (a center taken at 103rd overall, and son of the former longtime Capital, played at Notre Dame and then U. of Nebraska-Omaha) and Christian Krygier (a Michigan State defenseman taken at 196th overall). Both had brief ATOs with Bridgeport late last season, so maybe they land there or elsewhere on minor-league deals.

This is fairly standard churn for late-round NCAA-bound picks who don’t blossom. 2018 was the first draft under Lou Lamoriello, although he’d only just taken over a month prior, so by round and timing it would be harsh to call these draft misses.

Speaking of which, any NCAA free agents the Islanders could and should go after? [THN]

Podcasts:

• Islanders Award Winners Podcast: Mike Bossy, Part 1. [Patreon]
• Pushin’ P(rospects): Ranking Isles prospects and season predictions [Skates at the Stakes: An Islanders Podcast]

Feel-good history:

If you are still able to access the platform formerly known as Twitter, here’s a cool little retrospective on Bob Bourne:

Elsewhere

• Sad news here: Rodion Amirov, a Maple Leafs prospect diagnosed with a brain tumor, has died at 21. [NHL]
• Big offseason changes that could singlehandedly shift the balance of power in each division. [Sportsnet]
• A deeper look at the Nashville Predators, Barry Trotz’s new (and old) project. [NHL]
• Flipped to Montreal to facilitate the Erik Karlsson trade, Jeff Petry is now dealt to Detroit and that’s just great by him. [NHL]
• For the Canadiens, the Petry maneuvers were all about spending a little cap to collect more futures. [TSN]
• Tomas (Steak) Tatar is still a free agent, can still produce, and could still maybe help a team. [TSN]