Pierre Engvall scored the Islanders' only goal against the Rangers last night. On Saturday, the Islanders put him on waivers.
He wasn't alone. Mitchell Chaffee, Liam Foudy, Daylan Kuefler and Matt Luff all hit the wire too, making it five Islanders on the list.
They were part of a crowded day league-wide, with 18 players placed on waivers Saturday.
All five dressed in Friday's 6-1 home loss to the Rangers.
Engvall led Islanders forwards with 19:07 of ice time and somehow finished plus-1 on a night his team got outscored by five.
Foudy and Cole Eiserman picked up the assists on his goal, and Foudy's 17:29 ranked second among Islanders forwards.
So what exactly did Engvall have to do to stick, score twice?
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NHL teams just placed 18 players on waivers before opening night
Kuefler went minus-3 in 15:03, the kind of line that doesn't survive a morning meeting.
Chaffee took a minor and went minus-1 in 14:54. Luff saw just 11:43.
Behind them, Semyon Varlamov made 21 saves on 27 shots and wore all six goals.
It's a cold move, and it's the right one. Nobody on that roster should feel safe after a night like Friday.
Waiving the one guy who found the net is like a restaurant letting go of the only cook whose plate came back clean. Harsh, but the owner is clearly looking at the whole kitchen.
Every one of those five can now be claimed by any of the other 31 teams.
The day already had two winners. Detroit claimed Andreas Englund from Calgary, and Nashville grabbed William Trudeau from the Rangers.
Mike Sullivan's Rangers wrapped their preseason with that rout and open the regular season Tuesday in Boston.
The Islanders, 1-2-0 this preseason, host New Jersey tonight before opening the regular season against the same Devils on October 3.
Should all five clear, the Islanders keep the depth. One claim, though, and Mathieu Darche finds out fast which of them the rest of the league valued more than he did.
Did the Islanders make a mistake waiving Pierre Engvall the day after he scored?
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