Matthew Maggio is a 5-foot-11, 183-pound right shot, right wing who was selected 142nd overall by the New York Islanders in the 2022 NHL Draft. He is 21 years old and was an overager in his draft season. He spent his first season in the Islanders’ organization with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League where he scored 54 goals and 111 points in 66 games, resulting in winning the league’s Most Outstanding Player Award. Following the season, he signed with the Islanders. He spent this past season with the Bridgeport Islanders where he struggled at first but has since been excellent. He finished the season with 16 goals and 27 points in 61 games for the disappointing Bridgeport squad, but he showed a lot of promise in the final stretch.
Maggio’s Strengths
Maggio is an elite talent who thrives in all aspects of the offensive game, and Islanders fans should take notice now before they hear his name at UBS Arena. To discuss his offensive talents without mentioning his shot would be a disservice. He is not just a pure shooter, but he is a goal scorer. He can shoot, find rebounds, score on breakaways, and find different ways to put the puck in the net. His dynamic shooting can break open the game anytime he steps on the ice, and is a threat to the opposition, regardless if it is at the junior or professional level.
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He is also a great skater. He is crisp on his edges, weaving between defenders to find his way close to the net. In some ways, he looks like Mat Barzal, finding open ice and taking advantage to create opportunities. Just like Barzal, he thrives at leveraging his body to create that space, despite being on the shorter side. Watching him play, it is hard to imagine he doesn’t score more goals than he does, and there is cause to believe he is due for a big campaign this coming season.
Concerns With Maggio
Sometimes when assessing a player, they just lack that professional look. He has many shifts where he looks great, but he still makes mistakes, such as poor turnovers or bad reads. The biggest positive with Maggio is this season has been a tale of two halves, with the first few months showing clear struggles in adjusting to the professional level. However, since then, he has been spectacular, and a key reason why Bridgeport was able to get out of the last-place position in the league.
Before the season, he told NHL.com, “I think it’s kind of just little things that I’m trying to hone in my game to make me ready to play in the NHL,” showing his ability to accurately assess his play and make the necessary changes. In the final stretch of his first professional season, he showed the ability to learn and adjust his game to become a well-rounded player his coaches could trust. This led to him consistently playing alongside Bridgeport’s top forward and All-Star, Ruslan Iskhakov. While there is more work to be done, Maggio provides a lot of promise for Islanders fans to follow.
Additional Islanders Prospect Profiles
Maggio’s Estimated Time of Arrival
Late in the season, many Islanders fans called for Maggio to be called up amid the team’s offensive struggles. The reality for Maggio is he is close to being NHL-ready, but there is no spot for him. As a right wing, the team has Barzal and Kyle Palmieri clogging the top six. The third line has seen players such as Simon Holmstrom, Pierre Engvall, Oliver Wahlstrom, and more take the position.
Could Maggio slot in there? Of course! But it will be hard to imagine he will be given a spot this upcoming season, barring injuries or trades. The most realistic outcome for Maggio is to see him spend the entire 2024-25 season on Bridgeport’s top line, developing the consistency and durability to play at a high level in the AHL before joining the lineup in a full-time capacity in the 2025-26 season. After all, this may be best for his development as he would likely only play 10-12 minutes in the NHL in 2024-25, and he would most definitely not play on the powerplay.
Ceiling and Floor
For a forward as talented as Maggio, his ceiling should not be set to any one number or goal. If he continues to develop, he could become a mainstay in the top six, sporting the first unit powerplay and finishing somewhere between 20-30 goals and 55-60 points a season in his prime. More likely, his ceiling is a 25-goal, 50-point winger who can roam the top six but spends the majority of his time in the middle six. A good player to base this on is to combine Palmieri’s shooting talent and defensive performance with Barzal’s skating, providing for a fast-paced, offensive weapon any coach would love to have.
His floor is closer to Julien Gauthier, who split his season between the AHL and NHL. This role would be a fast-paced offensive talent who struggles to find consistency and a role on an NHL team. This would not be all bad, as even Gauthier provided some value to the Islanders this season. However, for the 2023 OHL Outstanding Player, Maggio has loftier expectations. The most realistic outcome is for him to become a career borderline 20-goal, 40-point scorer who is a third-line regular, occasionally joining the top-six with injuries or line shuffling.
For a prospect selected as late in the draft as he was, Maggio has done nothing but impress. He has shown an ability to fight through adversity at each level of hockey he has played, and there is no reason to believe he will stop developing now. Islanders fans should get excited to see Maggio in the NHL in the future.
