PHILADELPHIA — The takeaway from an exceptionally sloppy Islanders performance on Thursday night at Wells Fargo Center is that Sebastian Aho now has the sixth defenseman spot — which was already his to lose — well within his grasp.
That is less due to Aho’s performance in the 5-2 loss to the Flyers, which was nothing to write home about, than it is that of his counterpart Samuel Bolduc, who struggled on Thursday and has not done much to seize the job in camp.
“Everybody does mistakes,” Bolduc said after the loss. “Probably not the last one I’m gonna do. Just gotta put it behind me and keep moving forward.”
After Bolduc signed a two-year, one-way NHL deal as a restricted free agent this offseason, the thought coming into camp was that he might challenge Aho for everyday playing time.
But there was never a need to rush Bolduc when Aho is perfectly capable.
Right now, it looks as though starting Bolduc on opening night against the Sabres on Oct. 14 would amount to rushing him.
In the first period on Thursday, Bolduc took an unnecessary penalty, high-sticking Travis Konecny after goaltender Semyon Varlamov had the puck in his glove and was waiting for the play to be blown dead.
Bolduc did not take unnecessary penalties last year in his 17 games with the Islanders.
But that was a bad one.
Later in the same period, handling the puck behind his own net, Bolduc failed to notice Garnet Hathaway trailing him — and turned right into the Flyers forward.
Nic Deslauriers would score on the Philadelphia possession that followed the giveaway.
“I thought he needed a better start to the game,” coach Lane Lambert said. “And he tried to settle in after, but it’s a 60-minute game. You have to be ready every shift.”
On its own, Thursday wasn’t a referendum on the 22-year-old’s camp.
The Islanders rolled out a lineup without many NHL regulars to face Philadelphia — which has cut its camp roster to 26 and thus played something akin to a varsity squad. As a team, they struggled badly.
Coupled with a camp in which Bolduc has looked more like a work in progress than an everyday player, though, this served as a bit of an exclamation point.
“We didn’t have a ton of space,” Bolduc said. “They were forechecking us pretty hard. But it’s gonna happen, some nights like this. Just gotta learn and come back stronger in the next game.”
Being 22 years old and having just 17 NHL games under his belt, it is not a major issue that Bolduc’s game looks like a work in progress.
That is what most players in his position would look like, and whether he is in the opening night lineup or not, this will be a developmental year for the Laval, Quebec native.
The Islanders, however, will have a balancing act on their hands in trying to figure out how much time they can give Bolduc if they can’t trust him to avoid such errors as were on display Thursday.
He is not waivers-exempt, so sending him to the AHL for ice time is a nonstarter.
If Aho is the same level of dependable third-pair defenseman he was last year, though, there will not be much need to rotate him out.
But Bolduc is here for a reason, and could be a part of the blue line for a long time.
“He can make really good passes,” Lambert said. “He’s a good first-pass guy. So for him, it’s just getting back for the puck quickly. Having vision, looking over his shoulder and making sure he knows where that pass is gonna go, where that puck’s gonna go when he gets it. That’s just something you continue to work on.”