Islanders sign Matthew Kessel, another NHL product of the USHL

Matthew Kessel’s one-year deal with the Islanders is a reminder that the USHL still sends NHL defensemen down a longer, less polished runway than high-scoring forwards. The 26-year-old right-shot blueliner arrived in New York on July 1 with 99 career NHL games already on his résumé, and a contract listed at $850,000 that gives the Islanders inexpensive depth on the right side.

Kessel’s USHL route was built piece by piece. He skated for the Fargo Force and Chicago Steel before finishing his junior career with the Sioux Falls Stampede, where he turned 62 regular-season games into 19 points in 2018-19. He added four more points in 15 playoff games as Sioux Falls beat the Chicago Steel in three games to win the 2019 Clark Cup, the USHL’s annual playoff championship. Across his USHL career, Kessel totaled 114 regular-season games and 22 points, numbers that fit the profile of a defenseman whose value came as much from progression and usage as from box-score flash.

That path continued at the University of Massachusetts, where Kessel spent three seasons and helped the Minutemen win the 2021 NCAA national championship. St. Louis selected him in the fifth round, 150th overall, in the 2020 NHL Draft, and he kept climbing through the pro ranks with Springfield in the AHL. From 2022 to 2025, he posted 61 points in 151 AHL games, then added a goal and an assist in 20 Calder Cup playoff games for the Thunderbirds.

The NHL steps have followed the same steady pattern. Kessel played 29 games for St. Louis last season and finished with three points, bringing his career total to 99 games before the Islanders signed him. He also scored his first NHL goal on April 7, 2024, against Anaheim, a milestone that confirmed his game had begun translating beyond the minors. Internationally, he represented Team USA at the 2024 IIHF Men’s World Championship in Prague and Ostrava, where he recorded one assist in two games.

For New York, the signing fits a practical roster need as Mathieu Darche continues to add manageable contracts to a blue line that needs right-shot options. For the USHL, it is another clean example of how a defenseman can move from junior hockey to college, then through the AHL, and still become an appealing NHL free agent without ever needing to arrive as a headline scorer.