The Islanders’ prospect pipeline had a loud week at the top, with Luca Romano, Tomas Poletín and Vladimír Dravecký each making a real mark in their respective leagues.
Romano was the headline act. The Islanders’ 2025 third-round pick put up five points in two games against the Guelph Storm, starting with a three-point night on Friday, Oct.
- His first goal of the game came late in the opening period, when he beat the goalie stick side with two seconds left to send Kitchener into the first intermission up 2-1.
He wasn’t done there. Romano picked up an assist seven minutes into the second on Luca Santala’s goal, then later added his second goal of the game by weaving through traffic and snapping a shot off the left post and in.
He carried that momentum into Sunday afternoon, when he scored again and added an assist in the Rangers’ loss.
Through 13 games this season, the 19-year-old center is averaging more than a point per game with 15 points, including six goals and nine assists. He already has four multi-point performances for Kitchener.
Poletín had his own burst of offense in the Western Hockey League. On Friday, Oct. 23, he scored twice in the first period of Kelowna’s 5-4 loss to the Victoria Royals.
He opened the scoring in the first minute on the power play, then struck again eight minutes later for his second of the night and fifth of the season after capitalizing on a goaltender miscue. The 2025 draft pick, taken 106th overall, is in his second season with the Rockets and has five goals and four assists in 10 games.
His five goals are tied for the team lead.
Dravecký kept rolling in Guelph. The Islanders’ 2026 fifth-round pick has stretched his point streak to six games, piling up 14 points in that span with three goals and 11 assists.
He’s also posted three straight two-point outings. In both games of Rivalry Weekend against Kitchener, he collected two assists and had a shorthanded helper in each contest.
The streak started on Oct. 10, when he turned in a five-point game.
Overall, the 18-year-old defenseman has points in nine of the 11 games he has played and now sits at 18 points on the season, with four goals and 14 assists. He leads all OHL defensemen in scoring and ranks third on the Storm in points.
Special teams have been a big part of his production as well, with five power-play points - one goal and four assists - plus two shorthanded assists. He also carries a plus-13 rating.
Around the system, the weekly stat line snapshot shows Burke Hood at 8GP, 5-1-2, 1.97GAA, .940SV%, 0SO for Vancouver in the WHL; Dmitry Gamzin at 11GP, 6-4-0, 1.45GAA, .932SV%, 3SO with CSKA Moscow in the KHL; and Artyom Matyuk at 13GP, 2G, 5A, 2PIM with Chaika Nizhny Novgorod in the MHL.
The NCAA group includes Kamil Bednarik at Boston University with 6GP, 2G, 3A, 17PIM; Bobby Cowan at Western Michigan with 5GP, 3G, 2A, 0PIM; Lincoln Kuehne at Arizona State with 6GP, 0G, 2A, 0PIM; Jacob Kvasnicka at Minnesota with 6GP, 2G, 2A, 0PIM; Sam Laurila at North Dakota with 6GP, 1G, 3A, 2PIM; Tomas Machu at Providence with 5GP, 1G, 1A, 2PIM; Danny Nelson at Notre Dame with 6GP, 2G, 3A, 6PIM; Zachary Schulz at Wisconsin with 4GP, 0G, 0A, 0PIM; and Xavier Veilleux at Cornell with 0GP, 0G, 0A, 0PIM.
In Sweden, Dennis Good Bogg has 5GP, 0G, 1A, 33PIM with Mariestad BoIS HockeyEttan, while Malte Gustafsson has 12GP, 0G, 4A, 2PIM with HV71.
In Other News...
Barry Trotz Just Reignited A Favorite Islanders Arena Debate
Barry Trotz has a way of stirring up old Islanders arguments, and his latest reflection brought the building debate right back into the spotlight. After spending time behind the bench in three different home arenas, he talked about the club in a way that felt rooted as much in memory as in results, describing the Islanders as a tight group of young men and pointing to the unique bond between players and fans that made one home stand out in his mind.
For Trotz, Nassau Coliseum still carries a charge that neither of the newer setups quite matched. He remembered the intensity in the building and even recalled the kind of rowdy scene that comes with big playoff nights, the sort of atmosphere that made every shift feel bigger than it should. It was the closest he came to explaining why that old barn still lingers with Islanders people, and why the conversation about their true home never really goes away. [Read more 🡒]
Islanders Face A Brutal Test As Their Forward Depth Gets Pushed
The Islanders are trying to navigate a difficult Western Conference road trip while shorthanded up front, and the timing could hardly be worse. Their forward group is already thin, with Mathew Barzal sidelined and the offense leaning more heavily on veteran pieces like Bo Horvat, Brayden Schenn and Ondej Palt to keep things moving.
Matias Maccelli and Calum Ritchie added to the strain after getting hurt against Toronto, leaving the club to reshuffle its depth and absorb the loss of two more forwards for the foreseeable future. For a team that needs reliable scoring from multiple lines, this is the kind of stretch that can expose just how fragile the margin is when injuries start stacking up. [Read more 🡒]
Scott Mayfield Decision Won't End One Islanders Question
Scott Mayfields status has become one of the more noticeable early-season Islanders storylines, with the veteran defenseman spending most of the opening stretch out of the lineup and naturally drawing trade buzz in the process. Coach Lane DeBoer has been rotating defensemen without settling the picture for the next game against Nashville, which only adds to the sense that the blue line is still in flux as the team tries to find the right mix.
Mayfield has acknowledged the speculation, but his message has stayed steady: keep working, stay ready and help the team when called on. Islanders management has not said anything publicly about a trade plan, and for now the situation looks more like one to monitor than one ready to break open, especially with the market likely to look different as the season moves closer to March. [Read more 🡒]