With the New York Islanders season over, and them missing the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the team will now look to the 2026 NHL free agent class. After the way this past season ended with the team collapsing down the stretch and missing the playoffs, it is clear that work has to be done on this roster. General manager Mathieu Darche has to do that work, and he’s tasked with building a team that his new head coach, Peter DeBoer, can lead back to the dance next season.
Which New York Islanders Free Agents Are Likely to Stay This Offseason?
Credit Image: © Kostas Lymperopoulos/Cal Sport Media
We have already looked at the New York Islanders free agents and predicted which players were likely to stay with the team going into next season. Now we will look at the players who might be moving on and playing for a new team. Players who may have underperformed and can be upgraded, or rentals that the team doesn’t need anymore.
1: Carson Soucy (Position: D)
A rare intercity trade between the New York Islanders and New York Rangers brought Carson Soucy on board with the Islanders. This was the last year of a three-year deal he signed in 2023, making him an unrestricted free agent this offseason. He was acquired for a third-round pick to fill a hole on the left side of the team’s blueline after Alexander Romanov’s shoulder injury. Soucy appeared in 30 games, recording two goals and two assists in those appearances while averaging 15:27 in ice time.
Soucy did an okay job filling the need for the Islanders on defence. The 6’4″ defensive defenceman added some needed size to the Islanders defensive corps. He played in Romanov’s spot with second-pairing minutes and penalty kill. In this case, we think Soucy was just a rental. They needed someone to fill the spot for this season, and Soucy fit the bill on the last year of his deal.
2: Adam Boqvist (Position: D)
After appearing in 17 games for the New York Islanders following a waiver claim from the Florida Panthers on January 31st, 2025. Adam Boqvist re-upped with the team for this past season on a one-year deal worth $850,000. The former first-round pick played mainly as the team’s seventh defenceman for most of the season. An expected role for him, but a limiting one. He was limited to 28 games and only had two assists in those appearances while averaging 13:06 of ice time per game.
Boqvist filled exactly the role the team needed him to when they brought him back. As the seventh defenceman, he obviously didn’t play every night but was always ready when his number was called. He was brought back last time as a restricted free agent; however, this time, he will enter free agency as an unrestricted free agent. Given his lack of consistent playing time, normally a healthy scratch. Even when the team had injuries to their defence, you would’ve thought he could’ve got more time. However, he was still regularly scratched, passed over for other options and still couldn’t carve out a full-time role. We would expect the team to look in another direction this offseason.
3: Marc Gatcomb (Position: F)
For Marc Gatcomb, his second season in the NHL went pretty similarly to his first. He didn’t play consistently and even spent some time down in the AHL. After some injuries to the forward group, he found his way into the lineup. For the season, he appeared in 49 games, registering three goals and four assists for seven points in those games, while only averaging 10:05 of ice time per game. He will now enter restricted free agency, where the team can still offer him a qualifying offer, but will they?
Gatcomb is a fine but limited player. He doesn’t offer much in the point scoring department with nine and seven, respectively, in his first two seasons. However, he did have 149 and 192 hits in his seasons, showing his value as a fourth-line energy guy who can throw his body around. Unfortunately for him, that might not be enough to stay on the team. As a player who was in the AHL for a part of the season and was also put on waivers at one point. There’s a good chance he could be somewhere else for next season.
Credit Image: © Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire
