The New York Islanders announced today that defenseman Cole McWard has been recalled from the club’s AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Islanders.
McWard takes the place of blueliner Marshall Warren on the Islanders’ roster, as Warren was reassigned to Bridgeport yesterday. Warren had played in six consecutive games for the Islanders from Dec. 20 to Jan. 1, his final game for the team being the club’s 7-2 loss to the Utah Mammoth on the first day of 2026. Warren has three assists through eight games this season playing in a limited bottom-pairing role.
In recalling McWard to replace Warren, the Islanders have swapped 24-year-old depth defensemen on their roster.
While Warren is a left-shot defenseman who entered the year with zero games of NHL experience, McWard joins the Islanders’ roster with six games of NHL experience already on his résumé. He was signed as an undrafted player out of the NCAA’s Michigan Wolverines in 2023 and ended the season with a five-game run on the Vancouver Canucks’ NHL roster.
McWard then spent the following two campaigns in the AHL with the Abbotsford Canucks, playing a top-four role and winning a Calder Cup with the team last season. McWard signed with the Islanders this past summer after he was non-tendered by the Canucks; he got a one-year, two-way pact with a league-minimum NHL salary and a $200K total guarantee in order to sign on Long Island.
So far this season, McWard has been a top-pairing defenseman for the AHL Islanders. He has scored 16 points in 29 games and leads the team in time-on-ice per game, playing a role on both special teams units. The fact that he’s a right shot would, on paper, make him a less natural fit with veteran Scott Mayfield on the Islanders’ bottom pairing, though the other spare defenseman on the roster, Adam Boqvist, is also a righty.
Andrew Gross of Newsday wrote today that he expects McWard to play tonight when the Islanders host the Toronto Maple Leafs, and it’s likely McWard will make his Islanders debut lined up next to Mayfield.