I have a weird feeling they expect Pokka to make the team out of camp.
De Haan - Hamonic
Reinhart - Visnovsky
Hickey - Pokka
Strait
It would be ballsy, and I don't agree with it totally... but if he's as good as advertised it could end up being a huge boon to the Isles defense if he and Reinhart don't struggle.
It will be interesting to see how they handle Pokka. They could:
A) Play him on the Islanders, who need a right defenseman. But that mean they'd be playing TWO rookies, assuming Reinhart makes the team.
B) Send him to Bridgeport, which would give him the chance to adjust to North American ice in a lower-pressure environment. But Bridgeport is already stacked with defenseman and maybe they even have a handshake deal that he either plays for the Islanders or for Karpat so he doesn't have to spend time with the Sound Tigers and make an AHL salary.
C) Return him to Karpat, where he can play big minutes for a good time while continuing to develop physically. But that would mean another year would pass without getting him on North American ice.
One option, in theory, would be to start one of Reinhart and Pokka with the Islanders and the other with the Sound Tigers before eventually calling up the other player at some point in the season. That way they wouldn't be trying to acclimate two rookie defenseman at the NHL level at the same time.
Unlike others here, I haven't seen any footage of Pokka apart from a few brief clips on YouTube, so my bullish opinion of him is solely based on others' accounts. That said, for whatever reason, I'm really pulling for Pokka to be a big success with the Islanders.
