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The New York Islanders announced their 23-man roster today, featuring 14 forwards, seven defensemen, and two goalies.
On the blue line and in net, the roster players were pretty much locked in from the get-go, so there were no surprises. Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov return for their fourth straight year as a tandem, while Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock, Noah Dobson, Alexander Romanov, Scott Mayfield, Sebastian Aho, and Samuel Bolduc will make up the defense group.
Up front though, there was somewhat of a notable development, with Simon Holmstrom being reassigned to the AHL. Holmstrom spent 50 games with the Islanders last season, and got a pretty good opportunity throughout the preseason, playing with Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat.
However, the team does have 12 forwards who were essentially already locked into roster spots, in Mathew Barzal, Bo Horvat, Brock Nelson, Anders Lee, Kyle Palmieri, Pierre Engvall, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Oliver Wahlstrom, Hudson Fasching, Matt Martin, Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck. They then also chose to start Julien Gauthier and Ross Johnston on the roster as well, presumably as the 13th and 14th forwards.
Adding to the situation though is the fact that Ross Johnston was also placed on waivers today, despite being named to the roster. So if he's either claimed or assigned to the AHL, a roster spot for the Islanders would open up tomorrow, and Holmstrom could end up back on the roster.
Sending Holmstrom down makes sense if he wasn’t going to get playing time, as either Gauthier or Johnston can easily serve as spare forwards, whereas the organization would want Holmstrom getting into action on a regular basis. But we’ll wait and see what happens with Johnston, which will likely impact where Holmstrom begins the year.
The Islanders will open the season at home on Saturday, when they host the Buffalo Sabres.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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