The cycle Simon Holmstrom went through during the first six games of the season is nothing new.
Holmstrom has spent all of training camp and opening night on the Islanders’ top line, and the Islanders are betting that the 25-year-old will be able to make the jump to a full-time top-six player after scoring 40 points for the second straight year. He slowly came out of the gate, dropped to the third line, and then on Tuesday night, dropped to the fourth line.
That 3-2 win over the Canucks was his best game of the season as the Swedish winger finally found his form.
The details of the loop have changed — often, Holmstrom can find his game on the third line next to Jean-Gabriel Pageau — but the wide arc has not. Holmstrom was great when the Islanders were in the bottom six and less consistent in the top six.