2023-24 Bridgeport Islanders: A Season Filled With Lessons

The team lacked talent, especially on the offensive end. Few players had the ability to take over the game, and career second and third-line forwards were thrown into top-line roles. Forwards such as Carsen Twarynski and Brian Pinho spent the majority of their seasons in the top six but had just around half a point per game each. They are good role players, but asking them to take on bigger roles was a recipe for disaster.

Young Talents Ups and Downs

The season was as inconsistent as it gets for the young core. Despite not having many top prospects, Bridgeport had a handful of New York Islanders prospects who are NHL-likely for the future. This consists of Ruslan Iskhakov, William Dufour, Matthew Maggio, Alex Jefferies , and Henrik Tikkanen.

Iskhakov, who made his second AHL All-Star Game appearance in his second AHL season, was the team’s best player throughout the season. He led the team in goals (18), assists (32), and points (50). He was the generator of the most offense and even earned an NHL call-up for New York’s final game of the NHL season. It will be hard for him to earn a spot in the NHL moving forward, but he has put himself in a position to be a leading candidate for a 2024-25 NHL roster spot. It is easy to imagine once he plays with improved talent his game will improve, so a top-nine role in the NHL could propel him to great offensive success at the sport’s highest level.

Dufour and Maggio had similarly streaky seasons. Maggio struggled to begin the season, getting scratched at times. However, he finished with 16 goals and was one of the best players in the top-six down the stretch. He had eight goals and 12 points during a 14-game stretch from February to March, and he has continued similar play since. He is a dynamic offensive talent, and his first career professional season has taught him a lot as he continues his hockey journey. An NHL call-up sometime next season is possible for the 21-year-old winger.

Dufour is more known to Islanders fans, given he played in one NHL game during the 2022-23 season. He is a more physical player with a great shot and has emerged as a likely NHL player given his ability to play anywhere in the lineup. He had 15 goals in 55 games but struggled to stay out of the penalty box. He took a lot of avoidable penalties at crucial times. The talent is there, but improved discipline is what will be needed next season.

Tikkanen and Jefferies did not play much but they both showcased great skill, leading to them both recently signing their entry-level contracts that begin in the 2024-25 season. Tikkaken, who is 6-foot-7, dominated to start his AHL career, and he finished the season with a 2.10 goals-against average and .930 save percentage across 18 games. On a team that gave up nearly 3.1 goals per game, Tikkanen is a key reason why they were not the worst in the league for goals against per game.

Jefferies, who completed his college career this season before signing an amateur tryout with Bridgeport, quickly emerged as arguably the team’s best player when on the ice. He had four goals and seven points in his 12 games, but he dominated in the defensive aspect, looked great in transition, and showcased his talent. The 22-year-old has played both wings and is emerging as one of the team’s top prospects moving forward.

Getting Back to the Playoffs

For AHL teams, there should be two different mindsets approaching a season, and they are not mutually exclusive. The first approach is prioritizing development. This involves bringing in NHL-affiliated top prospects and preparing them for the NHL level. This is through prioritizing development and learning professional aspects of hockey, allowing them to grow and make mistakes without being scrutinized for them.

The second approach is to prioritize success. This involves bringing in top free agents to an AHL team to put the team in a position to win AHL games. Many teams have done both, such as the Texas Stars and Calgary Wranglers. However, Bridgeport has done neither, and next season that will change.

With Tikkanen’s great play, and the likely return of Iskhakov, Dufour, Maggio, and Jefferies, Bridgeport has a good foundation of youth. In addition, they brought in Marshall Warren who will bolster the defense. The signing of Warren is more than just one player as it shows the organization is frustrated with the lack of success and wants to improve. While the Islanders cannot magically add talented prospects to the pool, they can bring in Justin Gill, who had 40 goals and 98 points in 65 games for the Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.

A move like this would not be a game-changer, but it would be great in addition to adding other free-agent forwards looking for a role in the AHL. To add NHL-caliber talent to a young core of prospects will put the team in a position to find playoff success while also developing the young core, a necessary decision for a franchise with a shortage of top-end young talent.