The reasons to believe Calum Ritchie will start the year in the AHL have always had less to do with the player himself and more to do with the circumstances under which he is fighting for a spot in the Islanders’ lineup.

At the moment, those circumstances don’t appear to have changed, though they very well could if injuries to any of Anders Lee, Maxim Tsyplakov or Anthony Duclair prove worse than the Islanders believe.

Ritchie, though, is pushing hard for a place on the NHL roster anyway, hard enough that he might just have a real shot at forcing his way into the opening-night lineup.

“I want to see him play as much as possible [in the preseason] and we’ll go from there,” coach Patrick Roy said before the Islanders traveled to Madison Square Garden to face the Rangers on Thursday. “… What he’s doing right now is making our decision so much tougher, and that’s what you want. I don’t think he came here just to make an impression. I think he wants to make the team.”