Islanders Prospect Report: Jan. 19, 2026

Welcome to the Islanders Prospect Report, a weekly roundup of the Islanders' junior, collegiate and European prospects. Visit our In the System page for more prospect content.

AITCHESON EXTENDS POINT STREAK IN NEW YEAR

Kashawn Aitcheson has been on fire since returning from his first career World Juniors appearance.

Aitcheson extended his point streak to six games for the Barrie Colts in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) to kick off 2026. Aitcheson, who was the Islanders’ first round (17^th overall) selection in the 2025 NHL Draft, is up to nine points (3G, 6A) in this six-game stretch.

The 19-year-old defenseman continued his rally with a pair of points (1G, 1A), including in a 5-3 win over the Flint Firebirds on Thursday. He netted the eventual game-winning power-play goal on a one-time blast to put the Colts up 4-3 against the Firebirds at the 15:39 mark in the second period.

Aitcheson was named the second star of the contest.

In his next outing, a 4-2 win over the Oshawa Generals, he was on the ice for all four of Barrie’s tallies and recorded two assists, with the primary helper on the Colts’ game-winning goal to make it 3-2 against Oshawa.

The Canadian-born defenseman tallied a secondary assist on Barrie’s fourth goal in their most recent 5-1 victory over the Owen Sound Attack on Sunday.

Aitcheson ranks second in the OHL among defensemen with 41 points (22G, 19A) and leads the Colts with 22 goals. Barrie is 6-0-0 since his return from the World Juniors.

NURMI DOMINANT IN RETURN TO OHL

Jesse Nurmi hit the scoresheet in four of his last five games in his return to the London Knights of the OHL, with five points (3G, 2A) over that stretch.

In a 5-4 win over the Owen Sound attack, the Finnish forward contributed second period power-play tally to put the Knights up 2-1 over the Owen Sound Attack 10:48 into the first period on Saturday.

Nurmi, who the Islanders drafted in the fourth round (113th overall) of the 2023 NHL Draft, is tied for fourth on the Knights with two power-play goals this season despite having played only seven games. He started the season with the Worcester Railers (ECHL) playing 12 games before deciding to return to juniors.

The 20-year-old played 58 games with London last season and totaled 31 points (9G, 22A) and won the Memorial Cup.

LAURILA EARNS ASSISTS IN BACK-TO-BACK GAMES

Sam Laurila notched an assist in back-to-back games as No. 5 ranked University of North Dakota battled with No. 9 ranked Denver University.

Laurila notched a helper on the Fighting Hawks’ insurance goal at the 8:32 point in the first period of their 5-0 victory in the initial game of the two-game weekend series between the teams.

The next day, the 19-year-old defenseman earned another assist on North Dakota’s game tying-goal late in the first frame to tie the game at 1-1 against Denver in a 3-2 win.

Laurila, who the Islanders drafted in the fifth round (138^th overall) of the 2025 NHL Draft, ranks fourth among defensemen on the Fighting Hawks with six points (6A) in his first NCAA season

CHL

Kashawn Aitcheson (Barrie) OHL | 33GP, 22G, 19A, 41P, 50PIM

Luca Romano (Kitchener) OHL | 40GP, 9G, 14A, 23P, 12PIM

Burke Hood (Vancouver) WHL | 31GP, 15-11-2, 3.69 GAA, .896 SV%, 0 SO

Jacob Kvasnicka (Penticton) WHL | 40GP, 23G, 32A, 55P, 12PIM

Tomas Poletín (Kelowna) WHL | 27GP, 15G, 11A, 26P, 21PIM

Jesse Nurmi (London) OHL | 7 GP, 3G, 2A, 5P, 4PIM

STATS

KHL

Daniil Prokhorov | Dynamo Moscow (KHL) | 13GP, 1G, 0A, 1P, 0PIM

Daniil Prokhorov | Dynamo St. Petersburg (VHL) | 15GP, 6G, 6A, 12P, 12PIM

Daniil Prokhorov | MHK Dynamo Moskva (MHL) | 6GP, 2G, 3A, 5P, 0PIM

Dmitry Gamzin | CSKA Moscow (KHL) | 27GP, 14-7-0, 1.74 GAA, .932 SV%, 3 SO

SWEDEN

Victor Eklund | Djurgårdens IF (SHL) | 28GP, 1G, 12A, 13P, 10PIM

Marcus Gidlof | Leksands IF (SHL) | 16GP, 6-10-0, 3.00 GAA, .894 SV%, 2 SO

Dennis Good Bogg | Väsby IK (HockeyEttan) | 7GP, 1G, 1A, 2P, 6PIM

Dennis Good Bogg | Karlskrona HK (HockeyEttan) | 17GP, 0G, 0A, 0P, 37PIM

NCAA

Sam Laurila | North Dakota (NCHC) | 20GP, 0G, 6A, 6P, 21PIM

Quinn Finley | Wisconsin (Big Ten) | 20GP, 10G, 9A, 19P, 6PIM

Zachary Shultz | Wisconsin (Big Ten) | 12GP, 0G, 3A, 3P, 12PIM

Danny Nelson | Notre Dame (Big Ten) | 21GP, 7G, 7A, 14P, 20PIM

Tomas Machu | Providence College (Hockey East) | 21GP, 0G, 2A, 2P, 14PIM

Cole Eiserman | Boston Univ. (Hockey East) | 19GP, 8G, 5A, 13P, 4PIM

Kamil Bednarik | Boston Univ. (Hockey East) | 22GP, 5G, 6A, 11P, 16PIM

Xavier Veilleux | Cornell (ECAC) | 17GP, 4G, 9A, 13P, 2PIM