{"id":138877,"date":"2023-07-17T16:20:50","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T20:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=138877"},"modified":"2023-07-17T16:20:50","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T20:20:50","slug":"new-york-islanders-retain-one-of-their-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2023\/07\/17\/new-york-islanders-retain-one-of-their-own\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Islanders Retain One Of Their Own"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The New York Islanders are keeping one of their own. RFA forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/w\/wahlsol01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-06-28_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oliver Wahlstrom<\/a> has a new contract. He will remain on Long Island for the next year and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.capfriendly.com\/players\/oliver-wahlstrom\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">make<\/a> $874,125, which was his qualifying offer. After an injury-riddled year, this is a good deal for both sides.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Isles?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Isles<\/a> Transaction: The New York Islanders have signed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/w\/wahlsol01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-07-17_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oliver Wahlstrom<\/a> to a one-year contract.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NYIslanders\/status\/1681015023370489857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 17, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Wahlstrom Stays On The Island<\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.capfriendly.com\/teams\/islanders\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Money is not in plenty<\/a> for Lou Lamoriello. After losing key free agents in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/mayfisc01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-06-28_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scott Mayfield<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/v\/varlasi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-06-28_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Semyon Varlamov<\/a>, keeping one of their own was important. Oliver Wahlstrom has a new contract with the club. He is not the flashiest of all players, but he uses his big frame to his advantage. Standing at 6\u20192 and weighing 205 pounds, he is a big body that is not afraid to go to the front of the net. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Point production has never been his strong suit, despite starting roughly 17% of his <a href=\"https:\/\/moneypuck.com\/stats.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shifts in the offensive zone<\/a>. The year prior was not much less so he sees his fair share of opportunity. Last year was a career year for Wahlstrom. In 73 games, he scored 13 goals, 11 assists, and 24 points. Furthermore, he was limited to just 35 games this season and notched 16 points. With the majority of this roster on the veteran side, keeping young blood around is a wise decision by Lamoriello. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">What This Means<\/span><\/h3>\n<h4 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">For The Islanders<\/span><\/h4>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Oliver Wahlstrom contract makes sense for the Islanders. The majority of the core is locked up for the long haul. Recently, Lamoriello has extended <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/barzama01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-06-28_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mathew Barzal<\/a> as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/horvabo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-06-28_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bo Horvat<\/a>. Not to mention <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/l\/leean01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-06-28_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anders Lee<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/p\/pelecad01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-06-28_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Adam Pelech<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/n\/nelsobr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-06-28_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brock Nelson<\/a> are also locked in for the next few seasons. The biggest factor for this club is that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/sorokil01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-06-28_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ilya Sorokin<\/a> owns the crease. In addition, he has one year before receiving a luxurious payday. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Islanders were a playoff team this season. However, with them looking slower than their opponent the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/hurricanes\/\" target=\"_self\">Carolina Hurricanes<\/a>, the goal is to get younger and faster. With a roster littered with aging veterans, New York keeping him around can signal the future and present of youth on the team that&#8217;s impactful. <\/span><\/p>\n<h4 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">For The Player<\/span><\/h4>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Security is important, and that is what this contract is for Oliver Wahlstrom. Despite ending the season on injured reserve, he can build off a career year the season before. Wahlstrom is a strong young player with a physical upside. This year he finished with just 50 hits as opposed to his 101 his last season. But overall, Wahlstrom is a good young talent that can be plugged into any situation. He may not be the building block player, but a complimentary piece going forward. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Main Photo: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New York Islanders are keeping one of their own. RFA forward Oliver Wahlstrom has a new contract. He will remain on Long Island for the next year and make $874,125, which was his qualifying offer. After an injury-riddled year, this is a good deal for both sides. #Isles Transaction: The New York Islanders have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4194,"featured_media":138878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,4547,17,4548],"tags":[5904,2137],"class_list":["post-138877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-hockey","category-islanders","category-nhl","tag-new-york-islanders-news","tag-oliver-wahlstrom"],"modified_by":"Alec Roberson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}