Cole Eiserman's elite asset is almost unexplainable — his old coaches dish on what sets him apart
But ask different coaches what exactly makes Eiserman's shot so tough to stop, and the theories will vary. There is no consensus.
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Tim Kyrkostas, one of Eiserman's youth coaches in the Boston area, pointed to an 'understanding of the concept of time and space.'
Kyrkostas — who has also coached NHLers Shayne Gostisbehere, Jakob Chychrun and Brandon Duhaime at the youth level — compared Eiserman's hockey sense to Matthew Tkachuk.
'Matthew knows how to see and find the soft areas and get open down near the net,' Kyrkostas said. 'I think Cole's demonstrated that.'
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Others believe it's Eiserman's release that separates him from his peers.
Mike Busconi, who coached Eiserman in eighth grade, said he thinks it all comes down to core strength, which enables Eiserman to get more torque behind his shot.
'He's 6-foot-1, 190 pounds,' Busconi said. 'But I bet if you compare him with other 6-1, 190-pound kids, he's in the top percentile in physical strength.'
Cole Eiserman runs a drill during the Islanders' developmental camp on June 30, 2025.
Heather Khalifa for New York Post
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Eiserman, selected with the 20th pick in the 2024 draft, is coming off a 25-goal freshman season at Boston University, which lost to Western Michigan in the national championship game in April.
U.S. National Team Development Program head coach Nick Fohr and Peter Morris, Eiserman's old peewee coach, agreed on their assessment: it's all in the hands.
'For me, it's a release thing,' Fohr said. 'It just happens quicker than what people are used to. The puck's already off his stick in a lot of cases when it wouldn't be off somebody else's, and it's to the goalie before he realizes it's there.'
Cole Eiserman, who was with Boston University, scores a goal against Penn State during a game last season.
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Morris agreed, adding that Eiserman has learned how to optimize his stick's kick point, the flex or bend that generates power during a shot.
'It's not a slow buildup,' Morris said. 'His bottom hand really leans into it. It's short, it's quick, it's explosive.'
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Eiserman, himself, doesn't have an explanation. He sees his shot as a 'God-given gift' that he's spent years perfecting. And he plans to keep working at it.
'I care about it so much. I like to call it my superpower,' Eiserman said. 'I realized that at a pretty young age, and then decided just to work on it, because I've always been gifted with it.'
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I leaned Kulich because of his larger NHL sample and that he did it predominantly as a center, but it's very, very possible that Snuggerud goes higher when their careers are over. Proud of my evaluation on this one over the years. Actual draft pick: No. 23 (change: +9) to St. Louis My final ranking: No. 26 (change: +14) Jimmy Snuggerud is a good hockey name and Jimmy Snuggerud is a good hockey player. That's kind of what it has always come down to with him. He has above-average tools across the board and higher-grade ones as a shooter. He's going to have a long career as a solid second-line caliber winger, and I could see a couple of years in there where he's more than that. If he is, he's a top 10 or close re-draft guy all day. Advertisement Actual draft pick: No. 10 (change: -3) to Anaheim My final ranking: No. 25 (change: +12) Mintyukov has always been a complicated, polarizing evaluation for scouts. 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I think he was nitpicked a little too much pre-draft as the No. 1 pick in the Q (especially considering what he played through). Actual draft pick: No. 16 (change: -7) to Buffalo My final ranking: No. 23 (change: none) Ostlund is an extremely likable player because of his smarts in all areas of the game and the way he uses his airy skater and heady approach to navigate the ice. Some still wonder about how lean he is and whether he has the body to get to the inside and shoot the puck into the net himself enough, but he was excellent in the AHL last year, and the NHL is around the corner for him now. Actual draft pick: No. 55 (change: +31) to Winnipeg My final ranking: No. 39 (change: +15) Salomonsson, like Luneau, was viewed as a first-rounder at 16 and then became a second-rounder at 17 when his draft year had some ups and downs and didn't meet expectations. And like with Luneau, I was higher on the player through that than most. Now he's a big, strong, competitive, physical, highly mobile two-way D coming off an excellent AHL season on a bad AHL team who looks destined to become a good NHL D. Actual draft pick: No. 11 (change: -14) to Arizona My final ranking: No. 17 (change: -8) It was always easy to be drawn to Geekie. He was the Manitoba boy with the gregarious personality and a game that flashed real skill for a 6-foot-4 forward. He could play both center and the wing. He's going to have a really nice career in the NHL. The question was always more about pace and whether his skill would reveal itself as much at the NHL level or be a little more limited. Taking him at No. 11 was probably a little overzealous. Advertisement Actual draft pick: No. 19 (change: -7) to Minnesota My final ranking: No. 14 (change: -12) In a draft class where a lot of the forwards were polarizing in one way or another, Ohgren was a well-liked, well-rounded winger who was always going to have a successful pro career. He didn't have a defining or dynamic quality (though he did have a plus-grade shot), and he could just become a bottom-six secondary contributor, but that still probably makes him a late-first in a do-over. He had a really solid first season in the AHL last year as well. Actual draft pick: No. 54 (change: +27) to Boston My final ranking: No. 64 (change: +37) Poitras has always been a very smart player who has navigated the ice really intelligently and found ways to facilitate for his linemates and was decently competitive off-puck. The question at draft time was whether, as a 5-foot-11 center, he could score goals at the NHL level. That remains a bit of a question now, too. He was very good for Providence last year, playing to a point per game as one of the most productive players in his age cohort. But he also scored just one goal in 33 NHL games last season. He's a heady player. He's going to have to show he's more than just a guy at the NHL level and carve out a niche beyond the subtle passing feel/vision. I think he, Ohgren and Geekie are all in a similar boat in terms of what they have to prove. Actual draft pick: No. 46 (change: +18) to New Jersey My final ranking: No. 27 (change: -1) Casey, like Nemec, is caught up in a numbers game in New Jersey. That doesn't take away from what he has shown over the years, which is that he's one of the top offensive defensemen in his age group. He showed that internationally for Team USA. He showed it at Michigan, where he registered 45 points in 40 games as a sophomore. And he has now shown it in rookie tournaments and in the AHL. Though his results in the NHL were better than his underlyings, he was also immediately productive with the big club, registering eight points in 14 regular-season games, outscoring the opposition 8-4 in his minutes at five-on-five, and getting into a playoff game. He's a high-end skater and offensive thinker who I think defends better with his feet and stick than people realize. He may, like Korchinski, need to be moved to fully reach his potential, but I'd bet we see it at some point in his career. Actual draft pick: No. 29 (change: none) to Arizona My final ranking: No. 85 (change: +56) Advertisement The way Lamoureux thinks and processes the game has come a long way since the draft and has made all the difference for his obvious physical tools (the skating, the length, etc.). Guys don't always learn it, either. He's a very successful developmental story and would tell you the same. Full marks to him, his team and Arizona/Utah for the job they've done — and for the original swing and trust that he'd put it together. He still. has some work to do on a couple of things, but he's going to be a unique No. 4-5 NHL D. Actual draft pick: No. 80 (change: +50) My final ranking: Honorable mention Pettersson has always been a what-you-see-is-what-you-get player, and that player is now a solid third-pairing D, which in and of itself is good third-round value. I viewed him as more of a Round 4-5 guy at the time. Actual draft pick: No. 30 (change: -1) to Winnipeg My final ranking: No. 8 (change: -23) See this week's players I was wrong about column for more on my Lambert evaluation. Actual draft pick: No. 133 (change: +101) My final ranking: Honorable mention Those with a watchful eye will notice that Bump is the one order change from my drafted prospects ranking last week. I mentioned then that he was No. 101 (the final cut for it) and that there were a couple of players in the 90s that I thought about ranking him ahead of. The more I thought about it, the more I came back to it. So he leapfrogs a couple of guys, who slide into the honorable mentions here. Bump really worked on his game and impressed scouts and Broncos staff alike with the changes he made and the commitment he showed over his two seasons in college, and he's now knocking on the NHL door. The skill, shot and strength on the puck are there. The little things have come. He looks like a potential middle-six secondary scorer. Advertisement C Owen Beck Actual draft pick: No. 33 to Montreal My final ranking: No. 46 C Luca Del Bel Belluz Actual draft pick: No. 44 to Columbus My final ranking: No. 47 LW/RW Dmitri Buchelnikov Actual draft pick: No. 52 to Detroit My final ranking: Not ranked C Filip Bystedt Actual draft pick: No. 27 to San Jose My final ranking: No. 58 RHD Ryan Chesley Actual draft pick: No. 37 to Washington My final ranking: No. 31 LHD Artyom Duda Actual draft pick: No. 36 to Arizona My final ranking: No. 89 RW Jordan Dumais Actual draft pick: No. 96 to Columbus My final ranking: No. 34 RW Jagger Firkus Actual draft pick: No. 35 to Seattle My final ranking: No. 29 LHD Isaiah George Actual draft pick: No. 98 to the Islanders My final ranking: Honorable mention C Ryan Greene Actual draft pick: No. 57 to Chicago My final ranking: No. 71 C Stephen Halliday Actual draft pick: No. 104 to Ottawa My final ranking: Not ranked RW Joakim Kemell Actual draft pick: No. 17 to Nashville My final ranking: No. 7 C Cameron Lund Actual draft pick: No. 34 to San Jose My final ranking: No. 72 RHD Victor Mancini Actual draft pick: No. 159 to the Rangers My final ranking: Not ranked C Fraser Minten Actual draft pick: No. 38 to Toronto My final ranking: No. 79 LW/RW Ivan Miroshnichenko Actual draft pick: No. 20 to Washington My final ranking: No. 28 LW/RW Jani Nyman Actual draft pick: No. 49 to Seattle My final ranking: No. 45 LHD Owen Pickering Actual draft pick: No. 21 to Pittsburgh My final ranking: No. 53 LW Reid Schaefer Actual draft pick: No. 32 to Edmonton My final ranking: No. 83 Overall, I am happy with the results of my evaluations and/or projections on a good group of players. Hutson is obviously the big one, but my board did well and I'm proud of my evaluations and where I landed on Kulich, Nazar, Mateychuk, Salomonsson, Howard, Luneau, Casey, Korchinski, Yurov, Geekie and Ostlund, as well as some others in the honorable mentions (I was rightly lower on Schaefer, Pickering, Miroshnichenko and Beck, in my view, for example). Advertisement There's also obviously a big group that we were aligned on and went where I had them or in that range. But there were also some slottings that I appear to have misplaced (Savoie, Slafkovský, Kasper, Gauthier, Rinzel, Lambert, Bichsel, plus some of the honorable mentions such as Kemell and Buchelnikov) and a couple of them are big ones. The easy cop-out on those would be to point to lingering challenges of evaluating this age group coming out of the pandemic, or saying that I'm a different evaluator today than I was then. But overall, my 2022 list has performed worse than my others have so far. I want to be beating the field and 2022 is more of a mixed bag than I'd like, with some lessons to take away. Previous re-drafts and ranking reviews: (Photos of Logan Cooley and Lane Hutson: Bruce Bennett and Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
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NHL Releases 2025-26 NHL Regular Season: Islanders Key Dates & Notes
The New York Islanders will begin the 2025-26 season on the road when they visit the Pittsburgh Penguins on October 9. New York's home opener will be on October 11 when they host the Washington Capitals. Here are some other key dates on the schedule: Colorado Avalanche forward Brock Nelson will make his return to Long Island on Thursday, Dec. 4. For the Islanders, Jonathan Drouin and assistant coach Ray Bennett will make their returns to Colorado when the Islanders head to Ball Arena on Sunday, Nov. 16. Montreal Canadiens defenseman Noah Dobson will make his return to Long Island on Sunday, Apr. 12, the second to last game of the regular season. The Islanders will first square off with the New York Rangers on Sat, Nov. 8 at MSG. Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) on X #Isles battle the #NYR, concluding the season series with a home & home: Sat, Nov 8 at MSG, 7 PM Sat, Dec. 27 at UBS, 6 PM Wed, Jan. 28 at UBS, 7:30 Thur, Jan. 29 at MSG, 7 PM If Matthew Schaefer joins the Islanders in the NHL this season, he will face his favorite NHL team growing up, the Toronto Maple Leafs, on Saturday, Jan 3, with his first visit to Scotiabank Arena being on Tuesday, March 17. Other noteables: - 10 of last 12 games at UBS Arena - Home games are back to 7 PM, outside of a few - 5 home games begin at 1 PM - 13 total afternoon starts - 2 seven-game road trips - 15 back-to-backs this season - Columbus Day matinee vs. WPG - Thanskgiving Eve vs. BOS - No game New Year's Eve but host UTAH on New Year's Day *game times are subject to change PHOTO: Dennis Schneidler-Imagn Images
