Two years after failing to make the Islanders out of camp despite being on a long-term NHL contract and having missed all of last season following hip and ankle surgeries, it is on Pierre Engvall to prove his worth to the franchise.
Whatever time and dollars he has left on his contract — four years and $12 million, to be exact — is no longer going to factor into the decision to have him on the roster, if it ever did.
If it wasn’t already clear that Engvall would need to fight for a spot on the 23-man roster by his placement on a line with Daylan Kuefler and Mitchell Chaffee, coach Pete DeBoer made it more explicit Friday.
“There’s a big group of other forwards there, Engvall included, that are trying to make a case for themselves,” DeBoer said.
As ever, Engvall’s frame and skating ability make him a compelling talent, if only he could put it all together.
But the Islanders have a crowded room of forwards. Victor Eklund is knocking on the door. Ondrej Palat, Anthony Duclair and Kyle MacLean are trying to keep their spots. Chaffee, who played under Mathieu Darche in Tampa, has NHL experience. Getting to 14 — or perhaps to 13, should they choose to carry three goaltenders — is going to require hard choices.
“It’s obviously tough to be out of the team for that long,” Engvall told The Post on Thursday. “Just every day, rehab can be tough. I had a good team around me that helped me. Made it good for me, so I’m just glad to be back.”
The Islanders scrimmaged on just the second day of camp Friday, a sign of how the shortening of training camp from 21 days to 13 will mean condensing every part of the operation, with Bo Horvat and Eklund both scoring in a 1-1 intrasquad tie.
“If I’m going to make an error — and there’s no right answer for it, I don’t think anyone knows — we’re going to make an error on trying to get into as many competitive situations as we can here before we get up and running,” DeBoer said.
DeBoer has focused a lot of his energy on systems work, and he acknowledged Friday that there will be less experimenting with lines than previous years might have featured. In such a short period, everything has to be intentional.
“We’ve got to get to power play and penalty killing, too,” DeBoer said. “That’s the challenge for us. In the short camp, the small number of games, small number of practices we have, we’ve got to try and get up to speed as quickly as possible.”
Kuefler left the Islanders’ scrimmage injured, with no weight on his right leg. There was no update on his status afterward.
Quinn Finley continues to practice in a red non-contact jersey.
