{"id":132820,"date":"2025-08-09T22:28:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T22:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/132820\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T22:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T22:28:07","slug":"metropolitan-notes-islanders-iskhakov-penguins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/132820\/","title":{"rendered":"Metropolitan Notes: Islanders, Iskhakov, Penguins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With training camps a little over a month away, we\u2019re not too far away from seeing plenty of veterans inking PTO deals to try to catch on with a team for the 2025-26 season.\u00a0 Don\u2019t expect the Islanders to be doing so, however.\u00a0 NewsNation\u2019s Rob Taub relays (<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RTaub_\/status\/1953496476283208069\">Twitter link<\/a>) that GM Mathieu Darche indicated during a virtual Q&amp;A with season ticket holders that he doesn\u2019t intend to bring in anyone on tryout deals to camp.\u00a0 New York has some extra depth up front following the additions of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/d\/drouijo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-09_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Jonathan Drouin<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/heineem01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-09_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Emil Heineman<\/a><\/strong>, and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/player\/375743\/maxim-shabanov\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Maxim Shabanov<\/strong><\/a> while it appears they plan to give some prospects including top pick <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/player\/889671\/matthew-schaefer\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Matthew Schaefer<\/strong><\/a> a chance to lock down a spot on the back end, negating the need to add some extra options at that position.<\/p>\n<p>More from the Metropolitan:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Still with the Islanders, RFA winger <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/i\/iskharu01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-09_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ruslan Iskhakov<\/a><\/strong> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/matchtv.ru\/hockey\/matchtvnews_NI2230100_Iskhakov_Vsem_govoril_chto_prijezzhaju_v_KKhL_na_2_goda_a_posle_postarajus_vernutsa_v_Ameriku_Posle_obmena_plan_ne_izmenilsa\" rel=\"noopener\">told Match TV\u2019s Andrey Irkha<\/a> that his plan remains to return to North America for the 2026-27 season. The 25-year-old was quite productive in the minors with Bridgeport in 2022-23 and 2023-24, tallying 101 points in 138 games along the way but was only recalled for one NHL contest, a game in which he scored.\u00a0 But instead of re-signing last summer, he opted to return home on a two-year deal with CSKA Moscow where he had 12 goals and 17 assists in 60 games last season.\u00a0 Now with Metallurg Magnitogorsk following a trade last month, Iskhakov doesn\u2019t appear to be changing his original plan and appears intent on giving an NHL shot another go next year.<\/li>\n<li>The Penguins have added some defensive depth this summer with the signings of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/w\/wothepa01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-09_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Parker Wotherspoon<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/a\/alexeal01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-09_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Alexander Alexeyev<\/a><\/strong> plus the acquisitions of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/d\/dumbama01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-09_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mathew Dumba<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/c\/cliftco01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-09_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Connor Clifton<\/a><\/strong>. At first glance, that would seemingly close the door on prospects <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/p\/pickeow01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-09_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Owen Pickering<\/a><\/strong> or <strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/player\/727518\/harrison-brunicke\" rel=\"noopener\">Harrison Brunicke<\/a><\/strong> having a chance to push for a roster spot, even with the team saying both will get long looks in training camp.\u00a0 <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.post-gazette.com\/sports\/penguins\/2025\/08\/06\/trade-rumors-rutger-mcgroarty-sidney-crosby-tristan-jarry\/stories\/202508060052\" rel=\"noopener\">Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wonders<\/a> if the Penguins might consider waiving and demoting some of those newcomers \u2013 Clifton or Dumba in particular \u2013 to create an opening for one of the youngsters.\u00a0 With Pittsburgh not expected to contend for a playoff spot as things stand, it will be interesting to see if any budgetary restrictions are imposed which could make having a seven-figure player or two in the minors more of a challenge.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With training camps a little over a month away, we\u2019re not too far away from seeing plenty of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":132821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[1301,293,1334,80471,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-132820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-new-york-islanders","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","11":"tag-ruslan-iskhakov","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115001170483519525","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132820","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=132820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}