As always expect competition for jobs straight through training camp.
The European signings (or lack thereof) could mean some players may be getting invited to New York Islanders training camp....or it's likely some spots could be from promotions within.
Virtually no one signed at this point is getting much more than the minimum, it is a waiting game, some players will find themselves out of the NHL entirely. Chris Campoli (who went unsigned last year) signed in Swiss league.
Garth Snow was not shy about having plenty of depth waiting to play after years of rosters decimated by injury during the 48 game whatever you want to call it. Snow's never been shy about having three goaltending prospects share two spots.
Recap:
Mark Streit/Radek Martinek: Replaced by no one at NHL level, perhaps that comes from Matt Donovan, Griffin Reinhart, Aaron Ness, Calvin deHaan or another prospect. Joe Finley is a signed player at the NHL level. Matt Carkner has stretches where he is unplayable.
The long list of defenders who need to be signed by 6/1/14 suggests development will have to happen fast because the list of NHL defenders signed for at least two seasons (Visnovsky, Strait, Hickey, Carkner, Hamonic) mean there are only so many roster spots available, with the Islanders likely wanting to retain Andrew MacDonald.
A poor first half likely means Nabokov, Visnovsky (NTC) are traded by December, that was Snow's trend with Dwayne Roloson, and James Wisniewski.
Brad Boyes, Keith Aucoin, Marty Reasoner, Nino Niederreiter, David Ullstrom, Jesse Joensuu: Replaced by Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Peter Regin. Cal Clutterbuck with a list that again possibly includes Brock Nelson, Ryan Strome, Johan Sundstrom, John Persson, and Anders Lee, Kirill Kabanov among others.
In goal it's Evgeny Nabokov, likely Kevin Poulin. Anders Nilsson at the AHL level with Ken Reiter having earned a promotion. Secondary AHL goaltending (not even considering the Islanders drafted prospect depth) suggest this is not a concern. A college prospect named Parker Milner claims on twitter he's part of the Islanders-Sound Tigers organizations with no professional confirmation by the organization or a part of the clubs prospect camp that needed a second goalie for the prospect game.
College players have to pay their own way to attend NHL prospect camps, many invited do so.
New York (like many teams) at this time does not have an official ECHL affiliate, but found a home for Reiter, Jason Clark during last season at a time there was no NHL.