There is still another week left to change the equation, and the lineups the Islanders are rolling out in practices now could be quite different by the time they start the season against Utah in a week.
On the evidence we are seeing in this penultimate week before opening night, however, Pierre Engvall is going to need to change Patrick Roy’s mind over the coming days if he is going to be in next Thursday.
Engvall, who is under contract until 2030, was left out of Monday’s preseason game against the Flyers that Roy wanted to use as the first of two dress rehearsals with the NHL lineup intact. He skated with the fifth line in practice on Tuesday and Wednesday. There is still another preseason game, Friday against the Rangers, and five days between then and the opener, so nothing that happens now should be treated as gospel.
But even if Engvall makes it into the lineup, a message is being sent right now, clear as day: No one, but no one, is guaranteed playing time with Roy behind the bench. That is just the sort of message the head coach should be sending to a team chock full of veterans who maybe have gotten a little too used to the opposite in the past.