Oliver Wahlstrom claimed waivers from the Bruins at the end of his Islanders career

CHICAGO – At times, Oliver Wahlstrom seemed to have nine lives with the Islanders.

Ultimately, his career with the club that drafted him in the first round six years ago ended Saturday when Wahlstrom was claimed off waivers by the Bruins.

The New England native will get a fresh start closer to home and in the same city where he briefly attended Boston College.

The Islanders waived Wahlstrom and Pierre Engvall on Friday to make room ahead of the likely activation of Mat Barzal from LTIR for Sunday’s game against the Blackhawks.

Engvall is free and will likely be sent to AHL Bridgeport.

His future at the club is also uncertain after the season, with opting out of the remaining five years of his contract looking more and more like a possibility.

Last summer, it looked like Wahlstrom’s time with the Islanders was over, and both the player and general manager Lou Lamoriello didn’t seem entirely positive about his future here.

However, because the Islanders were unable to find a satisfactory trade and were unwilling to lose a former first-round pick for nothing, they brought back Wahlstrom on a one-year, $1 million deal and he made it out of camp squad.

However, this did not translate into consistent regular season performances, as Wahlstrom only managed four points in 27 games.

Despite recently being praised by Patrick Roy, he needed to play more consistently to secure a place, with changes to the squad inevitable as the team had a number of players soon to return from injury.

After tearing his ACL in late 2022, Wahlstrom never looked like the same player.

However, he had previously gotten on the wrong side of coach Barry Despite and was a healthy scratch from coach Lane Lambert – a precursor to Lambert regularly scratching him last season as well.

“Every time Lou makes a decision, we talk about the options we have,” Roy said when asked about Wahlstrom. “And sometimes they are difficult decisions. We have a lot of good players and sometimes it’s a difficult decision. It’s not necessarily an easy decision to place guys on waivers, but we’re making sure we go with the guys that we think can help us win.”