Oliver Wahlstrom believes he’s finally turning Islanders corner

The Islanders have hung on and stuck with Oliver Wahlstrom far past the point that most other teams would have, dealing with myriad starts and stops along the way. 

Maybe the last handful of games, over which Wahlstrom has attacked more often in the offensive zone and been rewarded with a couple points, is just another one of those.

Certainly there’s a long way between here and anything counting as legitimate return on what the Islanders have invested in the 24-year-old. 

Wahlstrom, though, does feel that something about this string of performances has been different — namely, he’s starting to look for offense in ways he has not in a long time. 

“I want to bring my offensive game out,” Wahlstrom said before Tuesday’s home game against the Kings. “I want to take some chances to get that game going, because they’ve been working with me for four or five years on a complete game. Sometimes when you’re young, you focus on one side of the game. I’m trying to focus to get back on my offensive game. I know when I focus and play well, I can help this team.” 

It’s easy to forget, with Wahlstrom having spent the last year and change post-ACL tear floating between the bottom six and being a healthy scratch, that he was once seen as a future 30-goal scorer.

When Barry Trotz would get frustrated and sit Wahlstrom for stretches, it usually had to do with careless turnovers or mistakes on the defensive end. 

Nobody’s calling Wahlstrom perfect there now. But he’s earned enough trust in his own zone now that the bigger question is whether he can start to tap into the offensive potential which has gone almost completely untapped since his December 2022 knee injury. 

“I am confident in my ability to produce and have that offensive game,” Wahlstrom said. “I had it my first year. A lot of good talks with [GM] Lou [Lamoriello]. My early years, they wanted me to get pucks in and play defense — I was focusing on that. Now it’s time for me to figure out my offensive game and have the confidence to bring the puck up, make plays, deal with the consequences. 

“Cause this game is about mistakes. This game’s about playing the way you can play and things like that. I think for me, it’s just sticking to what I’ve been doing. I’m way better at the defensive end than I was when I was 18, 19. Now it’s for me to figure out my offensive side with this team.” 

At this point, speculating about whether Wahlstrom still has a future 30-goal season in him feels beyond the Islanders’ wildest dreams. 

If he could even get to half of that number, though, it would add immeasurably to a bottom six which has been offensively deficient for a long, long time.

And it would justify the Islanders bringing back Wahlstrom on one more Last Chance Saloon contract last summer, after Lamoriello all but openly admitted on the floor of the draft that they were looking for a way to trade him. 

“I just hope the confidence will be there,” coach Patrick Roy said. “And sometimes it’s a matter of trusting yourself and shoot pucks with confidence, and I hope he’ll be able to do that offensively. He’s a goal scorer, so if you’re a goal scorer, you need to be around the net. And I want him to continue to go to the net and I’m sure good things will happen.” 

Wahlstrom’s history says a few decent games are just that. But the hope is that a corner is finally starting to be turned. 

“Being younger, it’s like you gotta play a perfect game, but at the end of the day, it’s hockey. Things are gonna happen,” Wahlstrom said. “You gotta go with the flow. What happens, happens. But for me, it’s getting that confidence and keep going.”