Wally's World

There had been some questions for the New York Islanders heading into the 2020-21 season. One of the bigger ones was who's going to step up and fill in the secondary scoring gaps? That question seemed to loom even larger a couple of weeks ago, when team captain, and goal scoring leader, Andres Lee went down with the knee injury. The team has stepped its play up at times and been able to keep pace at the top of the MassMutual Eastern Division this year, and the scoring sources are different on a lot of nights. One guy in particular who's been really turning his game up has been rookie Oliver Wahlsrtom.

Wahlstrom was taken with the 11th overall pick in the 2018 NHL entry draft, and so far hasn't really disappointed. He had only played nine games last season, without registering a point and didn't play at all in the playoffs. This year, he's played in 28 games and register 15 points, including a current four game point streak (3 goals and 2 assists during the current streak). He scored his first career goal opening night against Washington, but really started to showcase his skills around the middle of February when the points started coming.

Playing on the 3rd line usually with Jean Gabriel Pageau and Michael Dal Cole has been working pretty well for the three of them this year, with Wahlstrom being the biggest benefactor from that combination. With the pace he's been going as of late, he's only two goals and ten points back of Kirill Kaprizov for the lead in both among NHL rookies.

What's been standing out about Wahlstrom is that he's finally getting an opportunity to play with regularity and he's making the most of it. He's really getting a chance to showcase why the Islanders took him with the 11th overall pick three years ago and he's taking full advantage of it. I'd go so far as to say that his recent play has put him right in the mix as a dark horse for the best rookie in the NHL this season. Still a lot of hockey left to be played but you get where I'm going with this. I think the numbers, and the eye test of watching him play the past few games, have been pretty indicative of that. Plus, with the season ending injury to Andres Lee, who says there won't be a good chance for Wahlstrom to be seeing top line minutes sometimes soon, playing with Jordan Eberle and Matt Barzal. Wahlstrom now I think has his skills on display and there's plenty more positive upside where that came from for this twenty year old kid.