Islanders place Kieffer Bellows on waivers

The New York Islanders have placed forward Kieffer Bellows on waivers, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Bellows was selected by the Islanders with the No. 19 overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.

He spent his post-draft season in 2016-17 with Boston University and scored seven goals and 14 points across 34 games and then joined the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL for the 2017-18 season. In his one and only campaign with the Winterhawks, Bellows scored 74 points over 56 games.

Bellows spent the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons mostly playing for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the AHL affiliate of the Islanders. He scored 19 points in 73 games as a rookie and then improved to 31 points over 52 games in his sophomore season. Bellows earned a call-up to the NHL in February of 2020 and scored two goals and three points in eight games.

During the pandemic-shortened 2021 season, Bellows scored three goals over 14 games for the Islanders and didn’t suit up for the team during their run to the Conference Finals in the playoffs. Bellows appeared in 45 games for the Islanders in 2021-22 and scored six goals and 19 points.

Bellows has appeared in just one of New York’s six games so far this season. The Islanders are 2-4-0 and rank 19th in the NHL with 19 goals scored.

With an inexpensive $1.2 million cap hit, Bellows would be a worthwhile gamble for a team looking for a young talent with the upside to become an effective power-forward in the NHL.