Isles will start to sort out their lines

Islanders players who have experienced the past few Jack Capuano training camps know not to read too much into the line combinations and defense pairings at the start.

The time to notice is when the games begin -- and that's Monday. Capuano hinted that the alignments he had all weekend during team drills may change when the Isles split into two squads to play two Flyers teams, one at Barclays Center and one in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

But there may also be something to read into who goes where and with whom. Brock Nelson, who signed on the eve of Thursday's reporting deadline, has skated on the left side this weekend, with Kyle Okposo on the right and AHL center Alan Quine in the middle.

Mikhail Grabovski, who played mostly wing last season with Nelson entrenched at center, has been skating in the middle between Russians Nikolay Kulemin and Kirill Petrov. That line will likely take the ice in Brooklyn on Monday, even if it's mostly to allow Petrov, the newcomer, to ease into his first game in North America.

"It's better for me, but you know whatever the coaches tell me to do is good, too," Grabovski said of playing center. "But yes, it's more comfortable for me."

Nelson was discussed as a wing around this same point last year, a possible big body to play alongside John Tavares. Capuano loved what Nelson brought in the middle, though, and it wasn't until a late-season slump that Nelson played some wing; he got even more experience playing the left side at the IIHF World Championships in the Czech Republic last May, representing the United States while playing alongside Jack Eichel, the No. 2 pick in the June draft by the Sabres.

"I've certainly had plenty of experience there, but we all know it's early," Nelson said. "You have to be ready for anything."

The same goes for Josh Bailey, who has spent the weekend playing the right side with Tavares and Anders Lee -- a surprise assignment, since Joshua Ho-Sang was supposed to be the right wing with Lee and Tavares before his oversleeping and dismissal from camp Friday.

"We've pretty much all had some experience with each other up and down the group," Bailey said. "It definitely makes things easier."