Islanders: Predicting Forward Depth After Travis Zajac Retirement

After playing in the NHL for 15 seasons, Travis Zajac decided to call it a career. The long-time New Jersey Devil was a trade deadline acquisition for the New York Islanders this past year and provided solid depth to the bottom six in 13 regular-season games and 14 playoff games.

The expectation was that Travis Zajac was going to return in a 13th forward kind of role with New York this year but with his retiring that throws a wrench into that idea.

When looking at the Islanders’ current contracts they have 14 forwards signed. That doesn’t include Kieffer Bellows or Michael Dal Colle which all signs point to them returning for the 2021-2022 season.

First, we have to establish what the forward…