Welcome to Wally World!

Welcome to Wally World!

By Ryan Maher

Elmont, NY- In this young Islanders season one thing for certain has been that the Islanders have placed more of an emphasis on offense!

This narrative has been a long time coming for this team. Under Barry Trotz, the Islanders simply were not good offensively and that held them back in time over the past four seasons. A reluctancy Barry Trotz had was to play younger players extensively. Oliver Wahlstrom, the Isles young goal scoring winger, was mis-utilized by Trotz and this clearly had negative impacts on the Islanders success.

Under Lane Lambert, this has been the complete opposite. Although Wahlstrom missed the opening game due to injury, “Wally,” has been wonderful in this fresh season and fresh start in some respects. Lane Lambert has given Wahlstrom more opportunities, responsibility, and ice time which has proved incredibly beneficial for both the Islanders and Wahlstrom.

Last season, Wahlstrom saw roughly 10 minutes of five-on-five ice time per game, this season he has averaged upwards of 12 minutes of five-on-five ice time. With these added minutes and more offensive freedom Wahlstrom has already lit the lamp three times in 24 minutes of ice time. A year ago, Wahlstrom only scored eight five on five goals in 753 minutes! Now it is a small sample size, but it seems apparent that more ice time and offensive freedom for Wahlstrom and the team in general has been instrumental in the Islanders high scoring start.

Wally leads the league in efficiency rate in relativity to goals per time on ice and it is not even relatively close. Wahlstrom has been playing on the Isles 3rd line but bounced to the 2nd line last night and it was fantastic. We shall see where Wahlstrom will play in the future and if he receives even more ice time and opportunities.

The Islanders will continue to need goal scoring and if Wahlstrom continues to be able to produce the Islanders could be an extremely dangerous team. Let’s see if the fun in Wally World continues when the Islanders take on the Devils on October 20.