I’ve been kind of glib about the Islanders not really having training camp decisions because, after the signings of Zach Parise and Zdeno Chara, they seemed to have their desired opening night lineup set after the departures of Jordan Eberle and Nick Leddy. Barry Trotz even said he already had his top 12 “pretty much set.”
But it is true there is more to it than that, especially with a PTO veteran like Erik Gustafsson, a European pro-tested prospect like Robin Salo, the Leddy trade-fodder Richard Panik, and the inextinguishable Nine Lives of Leo Komarov in the picture.