Islanders’ Ryan Strome is a long shot for World Cup roster spot

Ryan Strome certainly knows about the World Cup coming to his Toronto hometown in September and that, at age 22, he’s eligible for the North American team of 23 and under rising stars from Canada and the U.S.

He’s also realistic about his chances to be one of the first 16 players named to that squad and the seven others that will be announced on March 2.

“I don’t really expect to be (named),” Strome said. “There’s a ton of unbelievable young players in the league and I’m not saying I don’t think I’m one of them, I can be. But I don’t really expect to be on it. It’d be a huge honor, it’d be fun to play in Toronto too, but this takes absolutely first priority over that.”

The first few months of Strome’s second full NHL season were humbling, to say the least. He was sent to the AHL for three weeks in November after a slow start and only recently, with five points in his last seven games, has Strome started to look like the player he was last season.

He said he was asked about the World Cup during the summer, while training in Toronto. Coming off a 50-point season, he was certainly in the mix for the North American squad that has Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli calling the shots.

Now, however, his sluggish season combined with the emergence of teenaged forward sensations like Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Dylan Larkin means Strome most likely won’t be among that first group of 16 players named the week after next. If Strome has a chance to make that squad, it will only come with a strong finish to the season.

“I haven’t really thought about it much,” he said. “I’ve had my own struggles to worry about this season.”

John Tavares will make Canada’s World Cup team and you would think he’d be among the first 16 selected. Team Europe, the hodgepodge of nations that has former Islander (and current Long Island resident) Miroslav Satan at the helm as well as Islanders equipment manager Scott Boggs handling the gear, will have the most Islanders on its squad.

Frans Nielsen, Mikhail Grabovski and both goaltenders, Jaro Halak and Thomas Greiss, are candidates for Team Europe. Former Islanders Thomas Vanek, Michael Grabner, Mark Streit and Nino Niederreiter also figure to be in the mix.

Halak not a fan of three-goaltender system

Halak got back on track with his 27-save shutout of the Devils on Friday and now, with next week’s five-game Western Conference swing, Jack Capuano has to juggle his goaltenders.

Halak said before Friday’s win that he’s been trying to work his way out of his slump, but the crowded crease in practice with himself, Greiss and J-F Berube, isn’t much of a help.

“It’s always tough to stay sharp with three goalies in practice, that’s tough, but I’m not the one who makes those decisions,” he said. “You just try to make the most of it.”

Thompson’s son getting noticed

Bridgeport coach Brent Thompson was filled with pride discussing his son Tage, who is climbing the draft ranking charts. The younger Thompson has 12 goals and 15 assists in 31 games as a freshman for UConn and is ranked in the top 30 on a few different scouting charts.

“It’s really all him,” said Thompson, who was an Isles assistant to Capuano from 2012-14. “He’d come home from school and pull up video of NHL players, watch their moves and their goals. He’s had that focus for a long time and it’s nice to see it pay off.

“He also knows this stuff really means nothing. You still have to put in the work.”

Two NHL scouts said they could see Thompson, who is a 6-foot-4, 185-pound forward, as a late first-round pick in June.