{"id":131820,"date":"2025-08-09T13:34:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T13:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/131820\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T13:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T13:34:09","slug":"ny-islanders-prospect-kashawn-aitcheson-decides-where-hell-play-in-next-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/131820\/","title":{"rendered":"NY Islanders prospect Kashawn Aitcheson decides where he&#8217;ll play in next season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"61\"><strong>New York Islanders <\/strong>2025 first-round pick <strong>Kashawn Aitcheson<\/strong> is expected to return to the Ontario Hockey League\u2019s<strong> Barrie Colts<\/strong> for the 2025-26 season, <a href=\"https:\/\/ca.sports.yahoo.com\/news\/kashawn-aitcheson-breathes-sigh-relief-153003739.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMbVZ8xWZOaOb0CHzqyCZEx-H1I29H1Laz2coQpOrQL1hFlF5UJWQJ83NJYxiCE_x5dUdPXqrn4ajvbPqWM3excL-4cn6lFLs_OstEN1v54eN269lPdoK_j73g0oyNWuQj00_cF1K87eCAECKK3w_PM_6kBKGGL1fvnqlE8Tcepe\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">according to multiple reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"64\">On Thursday, former OHL scout Ryan McArthur tweeted that \u201cthe NCAA is not an option for Aitcheson,\u201d adding that it \u201csounds like he will be back with Barrie\u201d this fall. The 17th overall selection in June\u2019s NHL Draft had previously kept his options open, including a potential move to the NCAA, before opting for another season in junior.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"67\">Aitcheson, 19, emerged as one of the OHL\u2019s most feared and physical defensemen last season while also taking a major step forward offensively. He scored 26 goals \u2014 third-most among OHL blueliners \u2014 and added 33 assists for 59 points in 68 games, with nine of his goals coming on the power play.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6e\">While his goal-scoring touch is already NHL-ready, analysts suggest his return to Barrie will give him the opportunity to refine his playmaking ability and log heavy minutes. \u201cHe\u2019s proven that he can score,\u201d McArthur noted. \u201cNow, going back to improve his playmaking abilities while playing 25 minutes a night is a good decision for his development.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6h\">With top OHL defensemen like<strong> Zayne Parekh<\/strong> and<strong> Sam Dickinson<\/strong> likely to make the jump to the NHL if they crack their respective rosters, Aitcheson could become one of the league\u2019s most dominant all-around blueliners this season. For the Islanders, Aitcheson\u2019s decision means their prized first-rounder will gain another year of top-pair experience before potentially competing for a spot on Long Island or Bridgeport in 2026-27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Islanders 2025 first-round pick Kashawn Aitcheson is expected to return to the Ontario Hockey League\u2019s Barrie&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":131821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-131820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114999071023547278","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}