Top Islander picks Strome, Reinhart expected at camp

While the Islanders still await word on whether defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky will return from Russia to play with them this season, there are two younger players who definitely will be at the team's training camp.

Ryan Strome and Griffin Reinhart, the Isles' two most recent first-round draft picks, will participate in the abbreviated camp that will start either Sunday or Monday at IceWorks in Syosset.

Reinhart, the fourth overall pick in the June draft, has four goals and 10 assists in 31 games for Edmonton of the Western League. Strome, the No. 5 pick in the 2011 draft, has 22 goals and 40 assists in 32 games for Niagara in the Ontario League. Both players just finished competing for Canada in the World Junior championships in Ufa, Russia, where the Canadian team had a disappointing fourth-place result.

Reinhart, a defenseman, likely will be in camp for a week and observe a game or two before he goes back to Edmonton. Strome, the offensively gifted center, may yet have a chance to stick with the Isles, but the 19-year-old would need to wow general manager Garth Snow and coach Jack Capuano to earn a top-six forward spot.

There is also the matter of economics. Burning the first year of Strome's entry-level deal on a 48-game season may not be what Snow is looking to do. But Capuano said that competition for spots will be open when camp starts.

"I wouldn't discount anybody we've got coming to camp," Capuano said. "My biggest concern is our health, what the physicals will tell us before we start. Then we can see where we are."

Strome may be competing against a fellow first-rounder, 2010 pick Brock Nelson. The big center has been impressive in his first pro season at Bridgeport, though he is currently sidelined with a broken jaw.