Islanders Preview: Ryan Pulock Jersey Card

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This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: Unlike in the distant past where I would post different texts on this collectibles blog and my personal one, I've been using a new format for the past couple of years, where I'll copy the same text on each one. As a father of two young kids, I just do not have enough time to write two separate posts per day on each blog. This year again, the entire scope of the analysis will take place first and the featured player will have a direct or perhaps indirect connection to what's written, below.

Caveats: At this point, despite training camp being set to start in a few days, several players haven't found a team yet, (at least) three star players have active trade requests, and a few clubs are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much left to do.

Key exits: Anders Lee (LW), David Rittich (G), Carson Soucy (D), Adam Boqvist (D), Maxim Shabanov (RW), Marc Gatcomb (C), Travis Mitchell (D), Cole McWard (D)

Key Arrivals: Matias Maccelli (LW), Vitek Vanacek (G), Matthew Kessel (D),Mitchell Chaffee (LW), Logan Stanley (D)

Top prospects: Malte Gustafsson (D, 20), Victor Eklund (LW/RW, 19), Kashawn Aitcheson (D, 20),Cole Eiserman (LW, 20), Dmitri Gamzin (G, 23), Danny Nelson (C, 21)

Losing captain Lee and a roster's worth of depth defensemen with none of them being replaced by new arrivals (save for Stanley earlier today) means the prospect pool (ranked 9th in the NHL by The Athletic) will be asked to jump in and play important roles. Head coach Peter DeBoer will have to balance teaching, accepting mistakes and winning enough to be in the mix for the playoffs.

What makes their odds look good:
A fine prospect pool, an elite goaltending tandem (Ilya Sorokin and a returning Semyon Varlamov from a two-year injury rehab), a smart GM in Mathieu Darche, and a superstar in the making in Matthew Schaeffer are a good starting point.

Question marks:
xxx

Outlook:
Hopefully, Bo Horvat and Brayden Schenn can combine to replace Lee's leadership, but this isn't the team that will end DeBoer's streak of not winning Stanley Cups despite being the most-hyped coach on the market.

Prediction:
6th in the Metropolitan Division.

Now in his 12th NHL season, Ryan Pulock is still dependable, although no longer among the best defensive defensemen in the league who got Norris votes in 2020-21; he remains an effective pair with Adam Pelech, but they are now a second pairing playing fewer minutes against elites, while Schaeffer gets the most ice time. Here he is from a set a decade ago:

That's card #RM-RP from Upper Deck's 2016-17 Series 2 set and Rookie Materials sub-set, and features a silver swatch of a jersey worn in a rookie photoshoot.

Ryan Pulock Autographed Card

Even though he is technically playing a minute less than he was in last year's playoffs - 22:17 versus 23:17 per game - Ryan Pulock is the New York Islanders' most-used skater, roughly 30 seconds more than defensive partner Adam Pelech. And while the Isles are generally seen as the lone remaining postseason team without a Norris-level defenseman - compared to the Vegas Golden Knights' Shea Theodore, the Dallas Stars' Miro Heiskanen and the Tampa Bay Lightning's Victor Hedman, not to mention Ryan McDonagh and Mikhail Sergachev - Pulock's goal and 8 assists for 9 points in 18 games is definitely elite-level, but the fact that the Islanders are 7-1 when he gets on the score sheet is even more impressive.

In Barry Trotz' system, apparently, the "little things" that quiet and subtle players achieve on the ice get rewarded often enough that they show up as "actual tangible things", and when they do, they tend to matter.

I'm really enjoying this series between a team basically using a modernized version of "The Trap" and the other perhaps the most skilled team of the salary cap era, and while I like a lot of players wearing the NY logo - Pulock, Semyon Varlamov, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Anthony Beauvillier, Mathew Barzal, Jordan Eberle, Derick Brassard, Nick Leddy, Johnny Boychuk, Thomas Hickey and Andrew Ladd - I'm also kind of glad to see the Bolts find ways to create offense and ensure we don't fall into another Dead Puck Era.

Here's a look at Pulock wearing the Isles' current/retro blue (now-home) uniform on card #182 from the 2018-19 O-Pee-Chee set from Upper Deck:

He signed it in blue sharpie last December.

Ryan Pulock Autograph Card

Ryan Pulock is one of the New York Islanders' strong prospects on defense that enabled the team to deal Griffin Reinhart to the Edmonton Oilers for two draft picks last summer.

The right-shooting defender, who was chosen in the first round (15th overall) at the 2013 draft - ahead of Nikita Zadorov (16th), Curtis Lazar (17th), Mirco Mueller (18th), Kerby Rychel (19th), Anthony Mantha (20th), André Burakovsky (23rd), Hunter Shinkaruk (24th), Michael McCarron (25th), Shea Theodore (26th), Marko Dano (27th), Adam Erne (33rd), Zachary Fucale (36th), Laurent Dauphin (39th), William Carrier (57th), Eric Comrie (59th), and Anthony Duclair (80th) - is an offensively-minded defenseman in the same mold as current Isles Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk so, in comparison, he's in the same situation as Nathan Beaulieu with the Montréal Canadiens (behind P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov) or like Ville Pokka for the Chicago Blackhawks (behind Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook).

So far, he was a point-per-game producer in the OHL with the Brandon Wheat Kings, and is at half that pace with the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers, which is fitting for a kid who is 21. If he were to follow a normal evolution for someone of his pedigree, he could be an NHL regular by 23 or 24, starting with second-unit powerplay time and becoming a first-unit player by 26 or 27, and getting his 30-40 points even in the NHL by then. Barring any injuries, bad luck or attitude issues.

He's won a bronze medal with Team Canada at the 2012 U-18s, but has not competed in the World Juniors, which is rare for a first-rounder.

Here he is wearing the Wheat Kings' black uniform, in card #A-RP from In The Game's 2012-13 Draft Prospect set (and Autograph sub-set, the Silver Version variant):

I reviewed that set last May.