Solely three of the defensemen the Islanders began on opening night time are wholesome, and so they have acquired one other physique to fill the ever-expanding gap on the blue line.
Ryan Pulock turned the most recent blueliner to undergo an damage because the Islanders positioned him on injured reserve with a lower-body concern Friday, retroactive to Thursday night time.
He didn’t play the ultimate 8:14 of the 7-Three win over Columbus, evidently on account of the damage.
As a result of seven-day minimal time on injured reserve, Pulock will miss a minimum of the following three video games in opposition to the Kings, Maple Leafs and Geese earlier than turning into eligible for activation in opposition to the Bruins on Friday.
Instantly after saying Pulock’s transfer to injured reserve, the Islanders introduced that they’d traded for Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo, sending a seventh-round choose for the upcoming draft again to St. Louis in return.
Bortuzzo, 34, has performed simply 4 video games for the Blues this season.
He has been the seventh defenseman for a lot of his 10-year profession in St. Louis, taking part in over 45 video games simply twice in his 10 years with the Blues.
For the Islanders, Bortuzzo falls into the identical class as Mike Reilly, who was claimed off waivers after Adam Pelech (upper-body/long-term injured reserve) and Sebastian Aho (higher physique/injured reserve) went down on Nov. 24 in Ottawa, insofar as being a veteran physique who ought to be extra reliable than their inner choices.
At a $950,000 cap hit, which may even characterize good worth for the Islanders, who would have in any other case been compelled to play a 3rd pair of Samuel Bolduc and Grant Hutton in opposition to the Kings on Saturday.
Bortuzzo, a righty, figures to step into the position Pulock had been taking part in alongside the younger Bolduc, although the potential return of Aho — who has skated with the crew not too long ago — may trigger these plans to alter.
The Islanders have began simply 9 video games this season with a wholly wholesome again finish, with a type of being the win in Ottawa, the place Pelech and Aho each went down through the first interval.
Mayfield bought harm towards the tip of the opening night time win over the Sabres, with Pelech then struggling a lower-body damage upon Mayfield’s return.
There was a stretch of six video games the place all six D-men had been wholesome, however that led to Ottawa.
When Pelech comes off LTIR, which he’s eligible to do beginning Dec. 19, the Islanders might want to cull down their roster with the intention to keep cap compliant, which may put any of Reilly, Bortuzzo, Bolduc or Hutton liable to waivers.
However that could be a bridge the Islanders will cross as soon as they get there, and since Pelech has not but begun skating, it isn’t fully clear when they may achieve this.
For now, they’re nonetheless in triage.