It’s Official: New York Islanders Prospect Ruslan Iskhakov Signs with the KHL
it’s official former Islanders Prospect Rous Lanes coov is signed with the KHL we’ll talk about the impact on both the Islanders and the Bridgeport Islanders all that and a lot more coming up on today’s lock on Islanders podcast your locked on Islanders your daily podcast on the New York Islanders part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome everybody to the Thursday edition of the lock on Islanders podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day I want to thank everyone who makes locked on Islanders your first listen every day don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast so you can get new episodes as soon as they drop today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply we have a busy show ahead of us today but first if there’s something Islanders related on your mind if you have a question a comment maybe a topic you’d like us to discuss on a future episode you can email the show at lockon Islanders gmail.com and if you leave your first name and where you’re from we’re happy to mention you on the show when we discuss whatever’s on your mind you can you could also follow the show on X at lockon Isles you could follow me gil Martin on X at ice Wars nyr vsny we’ll keep you up to date on all things Islanders all year long during the off season that means hirings firings trade rumors the draft free agency if it’s happening to the Islanders we’ll have it for you here on the locked on Islanders podcast and it’s great to talk a little Islanders hockey with you game time or anytime so it’s official we did report uh earlier that uh a russian-based hockey website indicated that Islanders Prospect rousan ishkov was going to sign with CSK Moscow of the KHL and that today was confirmed so uh even though the Islanders did qualify ishkov and uh basically his NHL rights he is not going to be with the Islanders organization this season at all and essentially by making that qualified offer the Islanders will hold on to his rights until he turns 27 now he will turn 24 later this month so basically for three more years or two two plus more years a little more than two years the New York Islanders will retain his NHL rights now you may say big deal we don’t know the length of the deal he signed in the KHL number one and number two what may be more important is you could package the rights the NHL rights to rousan is kov to a different team as a throwin or a sweet to the deal that you know could be made any point in the next couple of years and you know maybe that means if you give them the rights to iskakov that you don’t have to throw in a draft pick to sweeten a deal or maybe it’s as simple as okay we wanted a a a second round pick you can give us a third or a fourth or a sixth or you know whatever the case may be uh it could help the Islanders with either a salary tension or draft pick sweetener there are a number of factors that the rights to iskakov could help and look if he goes and really plays well in the KHL the Islanders could always resign him uh if he’s willing to come back but from an Islander standpoint again to me the biggest thing is this this is another high draft pick iskakov second round pick back in in 2018 that ends up not developing into an NHL player for the Islanders and let’s face it the draft and develop aspect of this team is it needs Improvement right now because I want to say this off the top size when it comes to rousan iskakov is not part of the problem here and I’ll explain why if you thought 58 170 pounds is too small then why did you draft ishkov in the second round clearly they knew his height and they knew his size when they selected him in the draft so what do you do I mean you can’t use that as an excuse you know the guy was not going to be the next Cal Clutterbuck that was not the style of player and the size of player that you were going to be getting so you can’t say oh the guy’s too small now here’s essentially what happened there are really only two choices if you look at this from uh an honest perspective either the Islanders made a mistake in drafting ishkov because he just wasn’t good enough to make the NHL or he had the Roy talent and ability but they didn’t develop him properly and essentially I don’t blame iskakov for heading back to Russia uh he he and his agent probably asked Lam Morello after the season ended whether or not he’s in the team’s plans and whether or not he was likely to get a roster spot in the NHL with a regular role this coming season and the answer was probably hey no guarantees you’ve got to earn it all well and good but I think when they added Maxim sov as a free agent the writing was kind of on the wall for iskakov between that and the Islanders lack of cap space to sign him you really had a situation where he had nothing left to prove at Bridgeport he played two seasons in the AHL was an Allstar both years remarkably identical statistics 69 games in each season 51 points and 50 points I mean you can’t get any closer than that 17 goals 51 points in 20222 23 18 goals and 5050 points in 2023 2024 he is he was last year and the year before the best offensive player on the Bridgeport Islanders and we’ll talk more about that in our next segment but essentially either ishkov they made a mistake in selecting him or they just didn’t give him the the tools he needed to develop and look this happens even the best NHL teams are really only going to hit at you know 50% of their high draft picks it’s not the same as the NFL or the NBA where you draft a kid and he’s playing and likely starting you know right away you draft him in 2020 you in 2018 and in 2018 20 19 he’s part of your team and playing you know that’s not how it goes iskakov since he was drafted by the Islanders played at the University of Connecticut he played a year in Finland a year in Germany and then came back for two seasons in Bridgeport so you know this issue becomes did the Islanders give ishkov a fair shot to make the NHL and did they develop him well enough did they coach him up did they work on the problems in his game and obviously the player can be responsible for that failure as well maybe he didn’t work hard enough on what he does when he doesn’t have the puck you know a smaller player has to play a certain way to be successful in the National Hockey League and it’s entirely possible that the coaches said to ishkov this is what I need you to do and he never either was willing or able to do that there are a lot of uh variables here but the bottom line becomes here is a second round draft pick by the New York Islanders who is you know played exactly two games on the island one in the playoffs one in the regular season uh and and never really developed into a solid na player and if you go through the the five picks that the Islanders had in the 2018 draft uh the top five picks number one that year Oliver walstrom he’s kind of on his way off the island most likely Noah Dobson your second first round pick he has really panned out then you had two second round picks defenseman bod wild he he’s gone uh you know refused to uh take the covid shot and has not ever really come back to the Islanders organization not playing at a very high level of hockey right now not going to be an NHL player never played a game the other second round pick was ishkov he played one game in the regular season one game in the playoffs and then your third round pick was yakob Scar the goalie who again increasingly not looking like an NHL Prospect and has yet to play a game in the NHL he’s I would have to describe him as a very average AHL goalie as of right now and I would love for him to prove me wrong and and just go out there and uh you know take names but again he’s 24 and will be 25 uh in November so again the Islanders draft picks you know they got to do a better job of draft and develop especially when you have an organization like the Islanders that is unable to sign and has never signed a truly Elite unrestricted free agent since the cap came into existence in 2005 2006 so it it is disappointing to see rousan iskakov head to Russia uh you know do do I think he was the next Mike bossi or or you know Marcel Deon to name a smaller player who was it’s extremely effective I’m not saying that but it is disappointing to see a second round draft pick who only played a couple of games and only played like six minutes in each of those games to be heading out without delivering on any of the promise that he showed over time all right we’ve got a lot more to get to we’re gonna we have the home opener for Bridgeport plus we’re going to discuss how does Bridgeport deal with the loss of it scov we’ll have that plus uh a little talk about an Islanders summer league there’s a summer league that the Islanders will some players will be participating in and for Islanders birthday of the day a player who was with the Islanders for part of their first season and he is the oldest ever Islanders player his birthday was the first out of all the players who ever suited up for the Islanders let’s see if you can guess who that is in a little extra handy was a former Ranger all that and more still coming up on today’s locked on Islanders podcast today’s episode is brought to you by your friends at eBay Motors passion drive and patience formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlight and more whether you’re into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you’ll always find exactly what you’re looking for and with eBay guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back because 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player well we do know the Islanders brought in a couple of players in Frederick carlstrom and Mark gcom uh carlstrom is the one who has a little more offensive juice uh we’ll see whether or not he is able to pick up some of the slack but the main players who I think are going to have to come up big for Bridgeport this year well Matthew Mazi has got to be at the top of this list he had 16 goals which was second on Bridgeport again ish kov had 18 only 11 assists so 27 points in 61 games it is time for maio to prove like iskakov before him that he you know one more really solid season for maio in Bridgeport and he can show hey I got nothing left to prove at the AHL level and this may even happen midseason but you know hey call me up call me up so we’ll see you know he’s only 21 and we’ll see whether or not he can raise his game a little bit and take it to the next level obviously another player who we’ve discussed before William dfor uh a dominant player in the Que in juniors but still needs a little bit of work uh as far as his skating is concerned now he did improve a bit but still needs a little bit of work 15 goals 10 assists in 55 games but boy was he better late in the season for Bridgeport last season than he was earlier in the campaign he’s also 22 and you know he’s got a really good shot and if he takes his game to the next level and let’s say gets past the 20 goal Mark maybe even closer to 25 you’re talking about someone who can really take away some of the sting of losing rousan ish knock off at Bridgeport one other player who I think you know only played a little bit with Bridgeport he played 12 games with them last year had four goals and three assists uh and that’s Alex Jeff and you know he finished College uh at meramac so he’s done with that he’s also 20 two former fourth round pick from 2020 and you know he is considered one of the Islanders better offensive prospects I mean now Cole Eiserman has sort of blown him away in that category but Eiserman is going to play at bu this fall so he can’t be at Bridgeport but realistically getting more from Jeff who I think is a little bit more Polished in his game than majio and duor as far as his allaround game is concerned uh to me that is a positive and hopefully it is something that the Bridgeport Islanders will benefit from and again uh when you’re dealing with an AHL team you’re always walking that line between you want to win at the AHL level and you want to develop players last year the Islanders kind of struggled to do both and it is time it is most definitely time for Bridgeport I think to concentrate more on Player Development right now I mean if you do the Player Development thing well winning will come you got to have that right mix with a few AHL veterans but I think they added a few and have a few but but the prospect pool it needs to be improved it needs to be better and the Islanders need to do a better job as an organization and I’m not going to sit there and point fingers at any one person or group but as an organization from top to bottom scouting coaching having uh you know a a prospects Camp all of these things the eye owners need to do a better job of taking the players they draft and building them up into NHL players and hopefully after actually using all their draft picks this year that will speed along that process one other note by the way for the Bridgeport Islanders they have announced their home opener for the season it’ll be Saturday October 12th so two days after the Islanders season open the NHL Islanders where Bridgeport will host the Providence Bruins so uh mark your calendars for that and they also have home dates uh again of November 23rd January 18th February 15th March 8th and March 22nd so we we know those are home dates for Bridgeport and we are looking forward to getting the full AHL schedule and uh we will pass along a little bit more about that once it comes out and we’ll Link in the show notes to it so if you’re interested in attending a game at Bridgeport uh and seeing some of the Islanders prospects there we’ll have it for you all right we’ve got more to get to there is a summer league based in Minnesota at least five Islanders uh are participating in it we’re going to talk a little bit about that plus our Islanders birthday of the day all that coming up on today’s lockon Islanders podcast lockon has launched the first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel on YouTube and now it’s also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app locked on sports today is here for you 247 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local Experts of lockon plus our national shows covering every League find locked on sports today now available in the free Fire TV channels app so there’s a league based in Minnesota that is designed to keep hockey players uh NHL hockey players in shape and sort of in the hockey Groove uh over the off seon and it’s called The Beauty League da Beauty league and uh basically the Islanders have four NHL players and a couple of AHL players who are still still affiliated with the Islanders there now these games are a little different they don’t don’t tend to be physical there’s not a lot of hitting it’s four on four hockey you play two 23 minute halves it’s a high scoring League it’s kind of like uh a pickup league for NHL and AHL caliber players and uh there are four players on the Islanders roster uh who have been you know playing for years on it and there’s a couple of AHL uh Islanders as well so Brock Nelson Anders Lee Hudson fashing and Mike Riley they have been multi-year contributors from Bridgeport you got Seth helgason and Dennis cholowski they are also players who have participated for a long time and you got some former Islanders out there like uh you know Zack Paris although he’s probably retired now Aaron NES and Nick Ley so Nelson Brock Nelson was named the captain of Team Anderson and uh among other players that are on that team uh he drafted Mike Riley Anders Lee is on a different team uh Team Tria and uh fash in and helus are on team walner Dennis chowski on team element and uh by the way uh Brock Nelson’s team is team Anderson and these guys are playing for the Ron Scott cup name a John Scott excuse me Cup named after of course the uh player who was famously voted into the 2016 All-Star Game by the fans despite playing you know an enforcer’s role and just not playing a lot of minutes so you can stream these games by the way if you Google it you can you can stream the beauty Leagues games and yesterday uh was the first game uh and you know not every player plays in every game it’s not the most formal thing in the world but if you are hungering for hockey and you want to see some you know players that you know uh compete in a fun little tournament the game games go through July and into August and uh you know basically it can fill your hockey hunger if you uh want to watch a little a little pickup hockey game so wishing all the ey owners players luck and obviously most importantly hopefully no one gets hurt that’s always the biggest concern but uh it’ll be fun to watch uh certainly if you’re hungering for hockey in July and August time now for our Islanders birthday of the day and today would have been would have been uh believe it or not the 92nd birthday of former Islanders forward Ron Stewart a native of Calgary Alberta broke into the NHL in 1952 with the Toronto Maple Leafs won three cups with the Leafs later played for the Bruins the blues the Rangers the Canucks the Rangers again and then the Islanders picked him up in the 1972 73 season he played 22 games for the Islanders in that first year two goals Four Points four penalty minutes Ron Stewart really a penalty killer and defensive forward never uh was a big goal scorer had a couple of 20 goal seasons in the NHL but never more than 20 W in any given season and uh you know he he gave the Islanders who in their expansion year they were a very young roster a little veteran experience and Leadership one of his best games as an Islander November 25th 1972 the Islanders visiting the igloo in Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins Billy Smith the goalie for the Islanders Jim Rutherford the future NHL GM the goalie for the Penguins and the Penguins jumped off all the scoring in this game came in the first period and the Penguins got two goals from Greg polus one on the power play to take an early two to nothing lead but the Islanders bounced back uh Germaine gagnan getting a goal on the power play Midway through the first period to make it two to one and then our Islanders birthday of the day Ron Stewart getting his second goal of the year Ed Westfall the captain and Dave Hudson with the assists that goal came with just 11 seconds left in the first period and the game ended in a 22 tie Islanders outshot in this one 32 to 19 but Billy Smith made 30 saves to earn the win for Ron Stewart our Islanders birthday of the day he had the goal he was a minus one and he did score on his only shot on goal of the game and uh the Islanders and the Penguins skating to a two two tie and yeah this was only the second tie in New York Islanders history uh and in the tie improved the Islanders record boy that expansion year was rough the tie improved their record to 314 and two on that inaugural season I want to thank everyone who makes lock on Island ERS your first listen every day every dayers again tomorrow on the show we’ll have the latest Islanders news notes and happenings we will also uh again throughout the off season we’ll focus more on some draft picks and some prospects and the overall Islanders Prospect pool so stay with us and we’ll get to that uh on a day-by-day basis until then have a great day everybody stay safe and of course let’s go Islanders
New York Islanders prospect Ruslan Iskhakov has officially signed with CSKA Moscow of the KHL and will play in Russia this season. The Isles will retain his NHL rights until he turns 27. We’ll discuss the announcement and what it means for the Islanders organization and how they draft and develop players.
Plus, we will name some players who need to pick up their games to help the Bridgeport Islanders next season as they just lost their best offensive player and leading scorer.
And some Islanders players including Brock Nelson and Anders Lee will be playing in Da Beauty League this summer. We’ll talk about what Da Beauty League is and how it works on today’s show.
All this and more on today’s Locked On Islanders Podcast with Gil Martin.
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3 comments
Oh no my teams New York Islanders will find a replacement
That is so very much sad
NOOOOO