There has been plenty of speculation in recent weeks about whether the Islanders might consider moving veterans Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri by the March 7th trade deadline. However, speaking with reporters today including Newsday’s Andrew Gross, GM Lou Lamoriello indicated that the concept is “not even a thought in my mind right now”. Both players are pending unrestricted free agents and New York went into today’s action in last in the Metropolitan Division, only two points up on Buffalo who sat last in the Eastern Conference coming into tonight. That said, the second Wild Card spot is still within striking distance so don’t expect Lamoriello to even consider selling for a while yet.
Islanders Rumors
Islanders Injury Notes: Fasching, Varlamov, George, Holmstrom, Reilly
New York Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello shared a slew of injury updates with Newsday’s Andrew Gross on Thursday. Most notably, winger Hudson Fasching is expected to miss the next two weeks after suffering an upper-body injury in the team’s Monday loss to the Boston Bruins. Fasching left that matchup in the third period and didn’t travel on the team’s two-game road trip to the Western Conference. The Islanders have deployed healthy scratch Matt Martin to fill in for Fasching’s absence. Of the two, Martin is the only one to record a point this season – boasting one assist in 20 games to Fasching’s zero points in 19 games. They sit close on the Islanders’ depth chart, respectively averaging eight and nine minutes of ice time this season.
Lamoriello also shared that many of the Islanders’ other injuries are progressing positively. Goaltender Semyon Varlamov is expected to rejoin the team at practice when they return from their road trip on January 12th. Varlamov hasn’t played since the team’s November 29th loss to the Washington Capitals. He allowed five goals on 26 shots in that matchup, bringing his season totals to a career-low .889 in 10 appearances.
Rookie defenseman Isaiah George is also expected to return to practice when the Islanders return home. It will be his first time skating since sustaining an upper-body injury on a hit from Max Domi in New York’s January 2nd match against Toronto. George was placed on injured reserve, retroactive to the 2nd, and is now eligible to return when he’s back to full health. He has been one of the Islanders’ few bright spots this season, recording five points and 17 minutes of ice time in 25 games. The 20-year-old defender was drafted in the fourth round of the 2022 NHL Draft, and stands as just the third player selected outside of that year’s first-round to play through his rookie season. He’ll rival a role in the lineup when he’s back to full health, but may be bumped to the side by the return of Adam Pelech.
Forward Simon Holmstrom is also aiming to return to practice next week. He’s been another bright spot in the New York lineup, ranking fourth on the team in scoring with 22 points in 37 games, but went down with a day-to-day injury on January 1st. He was placed on injured reserve on January 7th. Meanwhile, defenseman Mike Reilly has also progressed from his injury but hasn’t yet been cleared for practice. Reilly has been out since November 1st.
The Islanders sit with 23 men on their roster. They’ll need to send someone to the minors to activate Holmstrom or Reilly.
Islanders Recall Grant Hutton
The Islanders recalled defenseman Grant Hutton from AHL Bridgeport on Tuesday, Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News reports. Winger Simon Holmström, who’s been out since Dec. 29 with an upper-body injury, was placed on injured reserve to open up a roster spot, Rosner adds. The team also moved defenseman Mike Reilly, who had been on IR since November after undergoing a heart procedure, to LTIR to give the Isles the necessary salary cap flexibility to add Hutton.
Hutton, 29, comes up to serve as an extra defenseman for the Islanders’ two-game Western Conference road trip. Rookie Isaiah George, who remains day-to-day with the upper-body injury he sustained last Thursday against the Maple Leafs, didn’t travel with the club, per Rosner.
Most of New York’s defensemen have spent time on IR this season, allowing players like Hutton to get some reps. The Indiana native played in 12 games in November and December, logging two assists and a plus-one rating while averaging 14:09 per game. The 6’4″, 214-lb righty controlled only 42.2% of shot attempts when he was on the ice at 5-on-5, but the stay-at-home defender was deployed as such and was primarily given defensive zone starts.
A pending unrestricted free agent, Hutton also has three assists and a plus-two rating in 15 appearances for Bridgeport. The former Miami University captain has spent his entire professional career in the Islanders organization, where he signed as an undrafted free agent in 2019. He’s now in his seventh season with the Baby Isles, amassing 89 points and a minus-six rating across 242 games.
He’s peaked as a replacement-level third-pairing piece, but getting so many professional games out of an undrafted pickup means the Islanders have gotten a good return on their investment. He’ll presumably sit as an extra defenseman on Thursday against the Golden Knights. It’s worth noting the Islanders are only carrying 12 healthy forwards on their road trip, though, so if one sustains an injury, he could draw into the lineup as a result of head coach Patrick Roy dressing 11 forwards and seven defenders.
Holmström, who’s already missed three games, can come off IR at any time upon their return home. He has nine goals and 22 points through 37 contests, on pace to shatter last year’s career-best 25 points in 75 games.
George And Holmstrom Listed As Day-To-Day
- Islanders defenseman Isaiah George is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, notes Newsday’s Denis Gorman (Twitter link). The rookie was injured in Thursday’s loss to Toronto. George has been impressive since being recalled in early November. He has played in 25 games so far, recording five points and 30 blocked shots while averaging 16:38 of playing time and even saw time on the top pairing at one point. Meanwhile, Gorman adds that winger Simon Holmstrom is also listed as day-to-day with his upper-body injury. He last played on Sunday and has nine goals and 13 assists in 37 games so far and is close to matching his rookie-season output already.
Snapshots: Guentzel, Holmstrom, Chernyshov, Bains
It’s one of the busiest nights of the hockey year. Unlike in years past, the Winter Classic is no longer a standalone event. The NHL has 12 other games on the docket, all backlit by Team Canada taking on Team USA in an exhilarating World Junior Championships tournament. The heap of action has pulled together sparked plenty of news from around the league.
Most notably, Tampa Bay Lightning winger Jake Guentzel returned to the team’s practices in a no-contact jersey on Tuesday, per NHL.com’s Eduardo A Encina. It was his first time skating since suffering an upper-body injury in the team’s Saturday game. He was designated as day-to-day, and missed his first game of the season on Sunday. Tampa Bay have until Thursday to prepare for a three-game slate this weekend. Guentzel’s return to the ice could be an indication that the Bolts will be getting another star scorer to support the effort.
Guentzel has been fantastic in his first season in Tampa Bay. He’s recorded 20 goals and 37 points through 33 games this season. That equals out to a 1.12 points-per-game scoring pace, which stands as the highest of Guentzel’s nine-year career and puts him on pace for 50 goals and 91 points across 81 games. He’ll need to return soon to uphold those numbers, and continue contributing to a Lightning top-six with three players outscoring him.
Across the Eastern Division, the New York Islanders have lost forward Simon Holmström to an upper-body injury. He has been designated as day-to-day, per a team announcement, and missed his first game of the season on Tuesday. Holmstrom has been a rare bright spot in the Islanders lineup, posting nine goals and 22 points across 37 games so far. He’s nearly past his career-high of 25 points set in 75 games last season, and has slowly climbed the Islanders lineup as a result. The Islanders scored just one goal in his absence on Tuesday, pulling their record to 4-6-0 in their last 10 games. All four of those wins required four-or-more goals, meaning New York now faces the challenge of maintaining their offense without one of their top scorers.
Traveling to the other coast – San Jose Sharks prospect Igor Chernyshov has shared that he hopes to return to game action in January, per Curtis Pashelka of Mercury News. Chernyshov – the fisrt pick of the second round in last year’s draft – has been skating with Sharks staff to support his recovery. He was a top prospect in last year’s class, with many even dubbing him a first-round talent. But a shoulder surgery in August has so far held him out of all 2024-25 action. He is expected to head to the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit when he returns to full health.
Finally, Vancouver Canucks winger Arshdeep Bains has changed agents, now represented by Wasserman’s Darren Hermiston per PuckPedia. Bains is in the final year of his entry-level contract. He began the year in the minor leagues, but was the clear top option on Vancouver’s call-up chart. He’s already been recalled seven times this season, resulting in Bains stepping into 11 NHL games. Unfortunately, he hasn’t done much to make the call-ups stick – with just one assist and a -4. He’s been much more active in the minors, recording 11 points, 20 penalty minutes, and a -5 in 12 games. Bains ranked second on the Abbotsford Canucks in scoring last season with 55 points in 59 games. His change of representation months before a new deal could be a step towards fighting for a hardier chance at the top flight.
Islanders’ Brock Nelson Unlikely To Sign Extension
Brock Nelson’s 12-year tenure on Long Island will likely end by the time next summer rolls around. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic writes Thursday that he believes Nelson “intends to test free agency on July 1,” upping the likelihood of the Islanders dealing the pending unrestricted free agent by the trade deadline if they don’t put themselves back in playoff position by then.
Nelson’s production hasn’t been what we’re used to seeing from him in 2024-25. With 10 goals and 20 points through 35 games, he’s on pace for 47 points over an 82-game schedule. On a per-game basis, that would be his worst offensive showing since the 2017-18 campaign. Given he’s now 33 years old, there’s also legitimate concern whether he can recapture the form that led to three straight 30-goal seasons from 2021-22 to 2023-24.
Part of that decline has been fueled by an 11% shooting rate, which would be decent for many players but abnormally low by Nelson’s standards. Throughout his 875-game NHL career, he’s usually hovered around his career average of 14.2% without much variation. He’s tracking to shoot at his lowest success rate since his first two seasons in the league. It’s also been fueled by a 12-game goalless skid, during which he has just three assists. He had 10 goals and 17 points through his first 24 outings before ending up at today’s totals.
But with the Islanders two games back of .500 and coming off perhaps their worst game of the season right before the holiday break, a 7-1 drubbing at home at the hands of the Sabres, whether they’ll be in playoff position by deadline day is becoming less of a debate. MoneyPuck puts the Isles’ playoff odds at 5.8% at the time of writing, Hockey Reference gives them a 10.4% shot, while The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn gives them a far more optimistic 34% chance, boosted by a weak middle-of-the-pack group in this year’s Metropolitan Division.
That means there’s likely too much runway left in the Islanders’ season for general manager Lou Lamoriello to throw in the towel. If history is any indicator, that’s a necessary prerequisite for the club to seriously consider trading Nelson instead of trying to hammer out a deal up until July 1. On the other hand, Nelson said during training camp that he was open to having in-season talks about an extension. Either Those haven’t happened or they haven’t been particularly productive, evidently leading him to focus on his options over the summer.
And if he’s genuinely intent on testing the market, not just finding a new home, that’ll impact his trade value by the deadline. Even at Nelson’s age, Lamoriello won’t be able to land a huge return for him without a team being reasonably confident they’ll retain him for more than just a few months. Nelson also holds a 16-team no-trade list, so if there’s a buyer he’s not interested in joining, he could veto those deals.
LeBrun and Chris Johnston speculated that the Stars and Wild are potential deadline destinations for Nelson. Both also make sense as free-agent landing spots. Minnesota could likely only acquire Nelson at 50% retention ($3MM cap hit) without moving out a salary. Still, they have over $13MM in cap space opening up this summer, thanks to the reduction of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyout penalties. That figure doesn’t include a projected salary cap increase of at least $4MM, making them well-positioned to have productive extension talks with star Kirill Kaprizov, who’s set to become a UFA in 2026 while being one of the most prominent players on this summer’s UFA market. Nelson, whose age and declining production likely don’t warrant a raise on his current $6MM cap hit on a short-to-mid-term deal, would complement Joel Eriksson Ek and Marco Rossi down the middle quite nicely and would likely have interest in returning to his home state. The Stars, meanwhile, project to have far more financial flexibility at the trade deadline but less so over the summer.
Islanders Activate Anthony Duclair From LTIR
Dec. 20: Duclair is indeed off LTIR ahead of today’s game against the Leafs, per Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News.
Dec. 19: Islanders winger Anthony Duclair will be a game-time decision for the Islanders’ next game against the Maple Leafs on Saturday, head coach Patrick Roy said (via Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News). He’ll need to come off long-term injured reserve to play, which Roy said he has an “extremely good chance” of doing. As such, the Isles shifted goaltender Semyon Varlamov from standard IR to LTIR ahead of tonight’s roster freeze to free up additional cap room for Duclair’s activation. That means the netminder will miss at least three more games with his lower-body injury, keeping him out through Dec. 29 against the Penguins.
Duclair, 29, has been out of action since falling awkwardly while attempting to create a scoring chance against the Canadiens back on Oct. 19. His return comes a couple of weeks later than the team initially anticipated when they issued him a four-to-six-week return timeline. Still, they’re nonetheless happy to get his services back. Roy stuck him on the top line alongside Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat to begin the season after the club signed him to a four-year, $14MM pact in free agency, awarding him a good bit of trade protection as well.
The 5’11” winger had two goals and an assist through five appearances before landing on LTIR. He was averaging a career-high 16:30 per game, a figure that would have been higher if not for leaving the game against Montreal in the third period. Duclair generated eight shots on goal, and his line with Barzal and Horvat controlled a team-high 64.6% of expected goals when deployed together, per MoneyPuck. The Isles will be thrilled to get that level of possession control back this weekend as they look to climb back to a .500 record in the month of December. They’re 3-4-1 this month and 12-14-7 on the season, sitting seventh in the Metropolitan Division.
Varlamov, 36, hasn’t played since allowing five goals on 26 shots in an overtime loss to the Canadiens on Nov. 29. He backed up Ilya Sorokin for the next two games until sustaining an injury in practice that necessitated the recall of Marcus Högberg from AHL Bridgeport to be the No. 2 option. Högberg has yet to start a game, but since he’s stopped all 17 shots he’s faced in two relief appearances, that might change to give Sorokin a rest after starting nine games in a row.
After posting a .918 SV% in 28 appearances last season, his highest mark in three years, Varlamov has a career-worst .889 mark through 10 starts this year. He’s posted a 3-4-3 record with a 2.89 GAA and allowed 1.1 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck. If that figure stands, it would mark Varlamov’s first season finishing in the red in terms of GSAx since his 2018-19 campaign with the Avalanche.
The Isles will have $437K left in their LTIR pool after adding Varlamov, moving defenseman Grant Hutton off the roster later today after his waiver period is over, and activating Duclair, PuckPedia projects. They’ll have a full 23-player active roster.
Islanders Place Grant Hutton On Waivers
Before yesterday’s game, Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said that winger Anthony Duclair had been medically cleared to return from his leg injury but is still working up to game speed. Defenseman Grant Hutton has landed on waivers in a corresponding move for his pending activation, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Hutton getting sent down isn’t much of a surprise. With Adam Pelech and Alexander Romanov returning to full health on New York’s back end, he’s played sparingly in recent days, serving as a healthy scratch five times in their last six games. The minor-league mainstay averaged 14:09 worth of ice time across 12 appearances during his call-up, which began after Pelech sustained a jaw injury in early November. He recorded two assists, a +1 rating, 11 blocks, and 12 hits in his first NHL action since November 2023.
An undrafted free-agent signing out of Ohio’s Miami University in 2019, Hutton has been a usual suspect on AHL Bridgeport’s blue line since turning pro. He’s made 30 NHL appearances dating back to his first-ever recall in 2021, posting three points. The defensive-minded defender has posted pretty underwhelming possession numbers when given a chance, only controlling 42.8% of shot attempts at even strength despite an even split of offensive and defensive zone starts.
Before his recall in November, Hutton had two assists and a +3 rating in nine games for Bridgeport, where he’s likely set to return, barring unexpected interest from another NHL club on the waiver wire. In 236 games with Bridgeport over the past seven seasons, he has 80 points (22 G, 58 A) with 115 PIMs and a -5 rating.
Hutton, an Indiana native, is in the final season of a three-year, $2.33MM extension he inked in 2022. He’s set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer and is unlikely to find a contract replicating the one-way structure he’s had since the beginning of 2023-24.
Anthony Declair Medically Cleared To Return
Joe Smith of The Athletic tweeted that Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson did not practice today with the team. Dylan Loucks of The Hockey News also reported that Gustavsson will miss his second consecutive game tomorrow night against the Florida Panthers. Marc-Andre Fleury will get the start with Jesper Wallstedt backing him up. Although Gustavsson will miss tomorrow night’s game, Joe Smith tweeted that Wild head coach John Hynes believes it will be a short-term injury.
Gustavsson has returned to form in 2024-25, bouncing back from a difficult stretch last season. Thus far this year, Gustavsson has posted a 14-5-3 record, along with a 2.24 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage in 22 appearances.
In other evening notes:
- Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio 550 reported today that Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff is optimistic that the team will get defenseman Rasmus Dahlin back into the lineup very soon. Dahlin could practice as early as Thursday and depending on how that goes, he could suit up Friday when the Sabres take on Toronto. The 24-year-old has been dealing with a back issue that initially flared up in training camp and has missed seven straight games.
- New York Islanders forward Anthony Duclair didn’t play tonight against Carolina but has been medically cleared to return and will do so whenever he is comfortable to return (as per Ethan Sears of the New York Post). Duclair has missed 28 straight games with a lower-body injury and has played just five times this season, tallying two goals and an assist in those games. The 29-year-old signed a four-year deal in the summer as a free agent and will likely occupy a top-six role for the Islanders when he does return.
Islanders Activate Mathew Barzal, Adam Pelech From Injured Reserve
The Islanders will have two pillars back in action today against the Blackhawks. Forward Mathew Barzal and defenseman Adam Pelech have been activated from long-term injured reserve and standard injured reserve, respectively, reports Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News. The Isles placed goaltender Semyon Varlamov on injured reserve in a corresponding transaction earlier this morning to open a necessary roster spot.
Barzal, 27, returns at the end of his initial four-to-six-week timeline after he sustained an upper-body injury against the Blue Jackets on Oct. 30. The injury cost him 21 of the Islanders’ 31 contests. They’ve also been without Pelech for almost that entire time. He sustained a fractured jaw midway through the Isles’ first game following Barzal’s injury against the Sabres on Nov. 1.
Neither player’s activation is surprising. Barzal returned to practice with the team on Thursday without a no-contact designation and was upgraded to day-to-day. Head coach Patrick Roy told Rosner yesterday that Barzal would be a game-time decision for today’s contest. Pelech returned to practice with the team in a non-contact sweater last week but was upgraded to full contact along with Barzal’s return to the sheet. Roy said yesterday that he expected the veteran shutdown man to return to action in today’s matinee.
The Islanders managed a 9-7-5 record without their highest-paid forward in the lineup. They’ve also been without Barzal’s early-season linemate, free-agent signing Anthony Duclair, after he sustained a leg injury earlier in October. He was also upgraded to day-to-day on Thursday, but Roy confirmed yesterday that he wasn’t quite ready to come off LTIR ahead of today’s game. That record has at least allowed them to tread water in the Eastern Conference playoff race, ending up with a .500 record with about 62% of their schedule still ahead of them. Their points percentage is good enough for 11th in the conference, and they’re currently just one point behind the Senators for a wild-card spot, although Ottawa has a game in hand on them.
After all of today’s moves, the Isles have a full active roster and just over $100K in cap space, per PuckPedia. They’ll need to clear multiple salaries to have space to activate Duclair in the coming days, which will likely involve Engvall returning to the minors after clearing waivers yesterday.
With Duclair still out and Bo Horvat likely to miss today’s game with a minor lower-body injury, Barzal will play center for the first time in quite a while in his return between captain Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Rosner reports. The 2015 first-round pick wasn’t tracking well offensively before his injury, limited to two goals and three assists in 10 games. The All-Star playmaker was coming off his best season since his Calder-winning rookie campaign in 2017-18, recording a career-best 23 goals with 57 assists for 80 points in 80 games. Besides his rookie campaign, it was his first time reaching the point-per-game mark. They’ll need his production level again to justify his $9.15MM cap hit and give them a chance at a third straight postseason berth.
Pelech returns in his familiar top-pairing role with Ryan Pulock. The 30-year-old lefty had four assists and a -3 rating through 11 contests before the fracture, averaging over 20 minutes per game. At least in the early going of the season, his possession numbers returned to the play that once had him considered one of the best defensive players in the world. The Isles controlled 54.6% of shot attempts with Pelech on the ice at even strength, which will stand as a career-high for the 10-year veteran if it continues. Isaiah George and Grant Hutton will be healthy scratches on the blue line, while Dennis Cholowski flanks Scott Mayfield on their bottom pairing.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.