The New York Islanders announced they have re-signed forward Simon Holmstrom to a one-year deal. PuckPedia reports Holmstrom has signed a one-way, $850K with the Islanders instead of accepting his qualifying offer which would have been a one-year, two-way contract of $874K.
The Islanders originally drafted Holmstrom with the 23rd overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft and he made his debut with the organization the following season. Holmstrom suited up in 46 games for the team’s AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in the 2019-20 season and scored eight goals and 15 points in his rookie campaign. He played another 24 games with the Tigers the following year but also played in the HockeyAllsvenskan on loan and Team Sweden’s international junior team.
The 2021-22 campaign in the AHL was Holmstrom’s coming out party at the professional level as he scored 12 goals and 43 points in 68 games which was good for third on the team in scoring. Now labeled as the Bridgeport Islanders, the team made the Calder Cup playoffs for the first time during Holmstrom’s tenure and he would score three goals and four points in six postseason contests.
He made his NHL debut with the Islanders the following season but largely earned bottom-six minutes during his rookie season. Holmstrom scored six goals and nine points over 50 games while averaging 11:16 of ice time per game. The young Swede performed much better over his sophomore campaign as he entered into a middle-six role with the team’s forward core. Over 75 games played, Holmstrom scored 15 goals and 25 points while finishing sixth on the team in goals.
There is no question that New York is looking to add more offense into their lineup next season as they finished as one of only 11 teams not to average at least three goals per game during the 2023-24 regular season. While on a very reasonable contract for the next year, Holmstrom should again be used as a valuable secondary scorer for the Islanders next season.