May 7: The Islanders confirmed Högberg’s signing today, announcing a two-year deal for the veteran netminder. Per PuckPedia, the contract carries a $775K cap hit and is a two-way agreement in 2024-25 before converting to a one-way deal in 2025-26. Next season, he’ll earn a minor salary of $425K with a $550K guarantee. April 29: In recent weeks, the Islanders have already been heavily linked to one international free agent, and it appears GM Lou Lamoriello isn’t done bringing in talent from overseas. They’re expected to bring in 29-year-old goalie Marcus Högberg from the Swedish Hockey Lea ..read more

Islanders winger Oliver Wahlstrom was non-committal about the prospect of returning next season, notes Ethan Sears of the New York Post. It was a rough year for the 23-year-old who struggled out of the gate as he worked his way back from offseason knee surgery.  Once he did get up to speed, he struggled, finding himself a frequent healthy scratch down the stretch; he didn’t play at all during the playoffs.  The end result saw Wahlstrom collect just two goals and four assists in 32 games.  A pending restricted free agent owed a $917.8K qualifying offer next month with arbitratio ..read more

The Islanders held their end-of-season press availability today after being eliminated in the first round in five games at the hands of the Hurricanes. Most notably, general manager Lou Lamoriello confirmed that he and Patrick Roy will be back in their respective roles with the team for 2024-25 (via NHL.com’s Stefen Rosner). However, Lamoriello said (via Rosner) that no decision has been made other than retaining Roy on next year’s coaching staff. That leaves Benoit Desrosiers’s future, who was appointed by the Isles midseason after Roy was hired to replace the fired Lane Lambert and had worke ..read more

Andrew Gross of Newsday is reporting that the New York Islanders will be without the services of forward Matt Martin for game 5 tomorrow night. Martin missed game 4 and didn’t practice today with the team. Martin has dressed in three games this postseason going scoreless while registering seven hits, 16 PIM and three blocked shots. Martin’s lower-body issue is the fourth time he’s dealt with injury this season and the fifth time this season he’s missed time due to a health issue. Islanders head coach Patrick Roy told reporters that Martin is still day-to-day and will travel with the team for g ..read more

In recent weeks, the Islanders have already been heavily linked to one international free agent, and it appears GM Lou Lamoriello isn’t done bringing in talent from overseas. They’re expected to bring in 29-year-old goalie Marcus Högberg from the Swedish Hockey League’s Linköping HC to bolster their depth at the position, Expressen’s Johan Svensson reports. A statement from Linköping last week confirming that Högberg was leaving for the NHL indicates it’s a two-year deal. Högberg does have 35 NHL starts and seven relief appearances under his belt, all coming with the Senators between 2018-19 a ..read more

The Capitals lost another defenseman yesterday when Trevor van Riemsdyk sustained an upper-body injury.  Head coach Spencer Carbery told reporters including Sammi Silber of The Hockey News that the veteran won’t be available for a must-win Game Four with Washington now on the brink of elimination.  While Vincent Iorio skated today, he was in a non-contact jersey and won’t be available tomorrow either.  However, Rasmus Sandin and Nick Jensen both took part in practice and haven’t been ruled out yet for Sunday’s contest.  If one of them can’t play, Hardy Haman Aktell will mak ..read more

The New York Rangers will be joined by centerman Filip Chytil when they travel to Washington D.C. for Games Three and Four, per Mollie Walker of the New York Post (Twitter link). It’s another substantial step in Chytil’s storied return from a November 2nd concussion. The 24-year-old hasn’t played a game since and took time away from the team around the holidays to recover in his native Czechia. He returned to New York in late January and received clearance to return to practice just two games before the end of the regular season. Chytil has since worked his way out of a no-contact jersey, and ..read more

In a report from Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News, New York Islanders forward Matt Martin was not on the ice for practice, and rookie forward Ruslan Iskhakov has appeared to take his spot in the lineup. The change could be for a few reasons, as the Islanders may be looking to inject more offense into their lineup, after failing to score more than one goal in Game 1, and failing to close out Game 2 after holding a lead. Furthermore, Martin could be a tad banged up after Game 2, as he got into a fight with Carolina Hurricanes forward Stefan Noesen towards the end of the game. [SOURCE LINK ..read more

The Islanders expect veteran center Jean-Gabriel Pageau back tonight as they try and even their first-round series against the Hurricanes at one apiece. He practiced today and took line rushes in his usual third-line role, per NHL.com’s Stefen Rosner. After missing Game 1 with a lower-body injury sustained early in the final game of the regular season, the 31-year-old will center a line with captain Anders Lee and Pierre Engvall. Winger Hudson Fasching is projected to come out of the lineup after riding shotgun with Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri on ..read more

The Hurricanes will be without one of their wingers for their series opener against the Islanders today.  Chip Alexander and Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer relay that Jesper Fast will be unavailable for the first game of the series at a minimum due to a neck strain suffered on Tuesday in the final game of the regular season.  However, the injury isn’t expected to keep the veteran out for long as GM Don Waddell said that it’s “a matter of days” before Fast returns to the ice though head coach Rod Brind’Amour added the 32-year-old won’t play until he gets at least one f ..read more