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2022 NHL Prospect Watch – New York Islanders – WHL Network

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With the 2022-23 NHL season on the horizon, we’re putting a focus on current and former WHL players looking to make their mark at the next level.

The 2022 NHL Prospect Watch series will feature some of the current and past WHL talent recently drafted or signed to NHL contracts, and having appeared in fewer than 50 NHL games.

Our series continues with a look at the prospect pool of the New York Islanders.

Daylan Kuefler
Just about everything Daylan Kuefler touched turned to gold during the 2021-22 WHL season. The product of Stettler, Alta. scored 38 goals during the regular season, adding 10 more in the playoffs for the BC Division Champion Kamloops Blazers. Kuefler’s hard work and patience paid off at the 2022 NHL Draft, when the 20-year-old was selected by the New York Islanders in the sixth round this past July.

Reece Newkirk
Former Portland Winterhawks forward Reece Newkirk split his first professional season between the Bridgeport Islanders of the AHL and the Worcester Railers of the ECHL. Newkirk, from Moose Jaw, Sask., notched a pair of assists in 13 AHL games, scoring 11 times and compiling 28 points for the Railers in 36 appearances at the ECHL level. He spent four seasons as a Winterhawk, wearing a letter in 2019-20 and 2020-21; Newkirk twice cracked the 20-goal mark in the WHL including a 29-goal season in 2019-20.

Parker Wotherspoon
Defenseman Parker Wotherspoon’s rights remain retained by the New York Islanders after the team extended a qualifying offer to the former Tri-City American in July. The product of Surrey, BC has spent the past five seasons with New York’s AHL affiliate in Bridgeport, for whom he recorded three goals and 24 points during the 2021-22 AHL season. Wotherspoon put up 40 or more points in each of his last three seasons as an American, topping out at 66 points in 2016-17.