The Bridgeport Islanders wrapped up their 2023-24 season a week ago, missing out on the Calder Cup playoffs for the second time in as many years. The team was the only in the AHL (American Hockey League) to finish with fewer than 60 points. That said, there were several bright spots to their season that fans will look back fondly upon when they think of the 2023-24 campaign. Ruslan Iskhakov and Matt Maggio are two players who shined.
Ruslan Iskhakov
Ruslan Iskhakov was the Islanders’ most electrifying player this past season. He was also their most valuable. The 23-year-old Russian led the team in both goals and assists, finishing the season with 50 points, well clear of Brian Pinho who came second on the team with 34. Iskhakov had some highlight-reel goals too. His between-the-legs game-winner against the Hartford Wolfpack in March was likely the highlight of the Islanders’ season, and it landed him with the number three spot on SportsCenter’s top ten.
Related: Iskhakov, Dufour Carry Bridgeport Islanders Over Wolfpack
Iskhakov’s spectacular play paid off. He was selected to represent the Islanders at the AHL All-Star game for the second year in a row, an honor that was unquestionably deserved. As the season winded down, he received the call he had been waiting for: he was called up to the NHL club to play in their last game of the regular season. He registered his first NHL point in that game and he looked very at home playing up in New York, at home enough that he has seen playing time in the postseason. Iskhakov will become a free agent at the conclusion of the Islanders’ playoff run: it remains to be seen what his plans are for next season.
Matt Maggio
Matt Maggio is arguably the Islanders’ most promising prospect. He was relatively unknown when the Islanders selected him with the 142nd pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, however he broke out the following season, pacing the OHL in points in 2022-23 for the Windsor Spitfires. His first full season in Bridgeport was highly anticipated, and it turned out to be a story of two halves for the young forward. Through the first three months of the season, he put up four goals and four assists; through the second half, he put up 12 goals and seven assists, assuming a key role in a struggling offense.
Maggio touched on his development in a postgame press conference following the team’s second-to-last game of the season, saying “I think…
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