A glimmer of a smirk crossed Patrick Roy’s face after he was requested about Pierre Engvall’s efficiency Thursday evening.
He sat silent for 5 seconds then requested a query of his personal.
“Do I have to answer that?” he stated.
In equity, everybody within the room knew that some 12 hours after the pinnacle coach stated he was giving Engvall — a wholesome scratch within the final two video games — “a fair shot” by placing him on the second line with Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri, that Engvall had blown it.
Not solely did Engvall fail to get across the internet, which Roy has repeatedly stated is the factor that may hold him within the lineup, however he failed to determine a bodily presence in any respect, performing as a swinging gate for Yanni Gourde and shedding Vince Dunn within the buildup to Dunn’s second-period aim.
Plenty of Islanders had dangerous nights in Thursday’s 5-2 loss to the Kraken.
Engvall, although, is the one probably to really feel some ramifications.
He performed only one extra shift for the remainder of the second interval, then spent the third on the fourth line.
It wouldn’t be a shock to see him be a wholesome scratch once more — and even on waivers — after Thursday.
“I guess I didn’t see the spark that I was hoping to see,” Roy stated. “I’ll leave it [at] this. It was a tough question.”
Even when Engvall stays on the roster for now, it’s exhausting to not really feel like he simply whiffed on his finest probability to remain on the roster over the long run.
There’s a looming cap crunch that’s coming for the Islanders as soon as Anthony Duclair and Mat Barzal get wholesome.
At any time when that occurs — and Barzal, out with an upper-body damage, has but to start out skating, so it seems he’ll go previous the unique four- to six-week timeline — the Islanders might want to offload roughly $3.3 million from their books.
That activity turns into quite a bit simpler in the event that they ship down Engvall, whose cap hit goes from $3 million to $1.85 million if he’s in Bridgeport.
In different phrases, there’s a clock on the Swede’s time within the NHL if he can’t stick within the lineup.
And he’s not going to get a greater probability than Roy gave him Thursday.
The Islanders held a second of silence for Massapequa Excessive Faculty’s Connor Kasin earlier than Thursday’s sport.
Kasin, 17, collapsed throughout a charity hockey sport in Bethpage on Saturday and subsequently died.
Adam Pelech (jaw) rejoined the Islanders for Thursday morning’s skate in a noncontact jersey, the primary time he’s been on the ice with the crew since getting damage Nov. 1.
