The Islanders should give Cole Eiserman time to develop

While the New York Islanders have added to their prospect cupboard since selecting Cole Eiserman in the 2024 NHL Draft, he is still an exciting one at their disposal. After finishing up college and signing his entry-level contract earlier this week, there’s plenty of intrigue to see how he does at the NHL level.

But should the Islanders be so quick to drop Eiserman into their NHL roster, or should he be given the proper time to develop in the AHL? Steven Ellis joined Daily Faceoff Live to talk about Eiserman and what the Islanders’ next plans should be for him.

Steven Ellis: With Eiserman, you’re hoping it’s either he’s a top-six player pretty quickly, or you send him down to Hamilton next year and go let him go play a ton of minutes in the AHL.

When it comes to goal scorers, they’ve got to continue to score to be at their best. You look at Alex Ovechkin. He’s a goal scorer even at this age. [The Washington Capitals are] not playing him whatsoever in the defensive zone. So when he’s out there, you know what he’s capable of.

With Cole Eiserman, he’s got an unbelievable shot. He does play with a physical edge, but defensively he’s still out of position a lot. And we saw at the World Juniors, he wasn’t scoring till the very end, and he did not look confident. He did not look great.

So when it comes to a goal scorer, don’t try to force him into the lineup and play him 11 minutes a night and maybe not give him those scoring situations. I would like to see him go spend next year with whatever the Bridgeport Islanders eventually rename themselves to, go out there and play a top-line role. We believe that team should be much better than it’s been the last couple years, and he’ll have an opportunity to play with some solid veterans and continue to get pucks on net.

So of all these really notable guys signing NHL contracts out of college, he’s the one where I would be a little bit more patient with, just because he is a one-trick pony of scoring goals. But if you’re going to be good at one thing, it better be scoring goals.

You can watch the full episode here…