- Although the two did play in the New York Islanders’ most recent game only three days ago, forward Brock Nelson and defenseman Noah Dobson were absent in yesterday’s practice and were listed as day-to-day with undisclosed concerns. Nevertheless, the team announced today that both players would be in the lineup for tonight’s game, while also indicating that defenseman Sebastian Aho is close to making his return as well. It is positive news for New York, who even though it might only be for a game or two, can not afford to miss two of their better offensive players.
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Islanders Rumors
Mathew Barzal Out With Illness
- The New York Islanders announced that forward Mathew Barzal will miss tonight’s game with an illness. Continuing with an organizational theme for the last several years, the Islanders once again have one of the lowest-scoring rosters in the league, with only five players scoring more than five goals through 20 or more games. Barzal, who is leading the team in points, has seven goals and 16 assists, once again showing off his elite playmaking abilities.
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Daylan Kuefler Activated Off SOIR, Assigned To Bridgeport
- The Islanders have activated winger Daylan Kuefler off season-opening IR and assigned him to AHL Bridgeport, CapFriendly reports (Twitter link). The 21-year-old is in his first professional season but wasn’t able to participate in training camp after suffering an injury in the WHL playoffs back in the spring. Last season, Kuefler had 61 points in 54 games with Kamloops while adding seven more in 13 playoff contests and four more in as many Memorial Cup appearances.
Matt Martin Nearing Return
The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch shared that star defenseman Thomas Chabot will return to the lineup in the team’s Friday matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Chabot has missed the last 10 games with a broken right hand suffered on October 26th against the New York Islanders.
- New York Islanders head coach Lane Lambert shared that forward Matt Martin is close to returning to action, but that his activation from injured reserve was more precautionary than anything. Lambert said that forwards Simon Holmstrom and Cal Clutterbuck missed the team’s Monday practice with illness and were questionable for the team’s Tuesday night game against the New Jersey Devils. Both players suited up for the matchup – with Clutterbuck even scoring a goal – delaying Martin’s return.
New York Islanders Activate Matt Martin
The New York Islanders have activated veteran forward Matt Martin off of injured reserve, according to a team announcement.
The move paves the way for Martin, 34, to return to the Islanders lineup for tonight’s game against the New Jersey Devils after an injury-related absence kept him off the ice since November 15th.
A veteran of nearly 1,000 games, Martin is an established fourth-line grinder. While he’s never scored more than 19 points in a single season, he’s racked up over 1,100 career penalty minutes and over 3,700 career hits. Martin has been on numerous playoff runs with the Islanders, including back-to-back runs to the Eastern Conference Final where he chipped in a total of six goals.
Now healthy, Martin will in all likelihood resume his role on the Islanders’ fourth line, alongside longtime linemates Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck.
2016 first-round pick Julien Gauthier had been playing on the “identity line” with Cizikas and Clutterbuck in Martin’s absence, and has registered nine hits in just three games played this season.
Islanders Place Sebastian Aho On Injured Reserve
The New York Islanders announced on Monday that defenseman Sebastian Aho has been placed on injured reserve, retroactive to last Friday. As of now, no corresponding recall has been made. Aho was injured early in the team’s Friday night game, along with fellow defender Adam Pelech. Both players have since been placed on IR, with Pelech being put on long-term injured reserve.
Aho has appeared in 19 games so far this season, netting four assists, four penalty minutes, and a -3. He’s also managed 18 shots and nine hits. This year becomes the fifth season that Aho has played in the NHL and follows up a strong 2022-23 season that saw the defenseman score 23 points and record a +9 in 71 games. Aho is in the last year of a two-year, $1.6MM contract extension signed last summer.
The 27-year-old Aho was originally drafted by the Islanders in the fifth round of the 2017 NHL Draft, after scoring 30 points in 50 SHL games in the 2016-17 season. He immediately came over to the NHL, playing in 22 NHL games in the following 2017-18 season. He’s managed 151 career games throughout his five-year career, scoring nine goals and 45 points.
This news knocks the Islanders down to just six healthy NHL defensemen, including recent waiver claim Mike Reilly. Reilly has yet to make his debut with the Islanders but did appear in two games with the Florida Panthers earlier in the year, going without a point while also recording two penalty minutes and a -2. The Islanders become the sixth NHL team that Reilly has been apart of. The 30-year-old defender originally signed a one-year, $1MM contract with Florida on July 1st, after being bought-out by the Boston Bruins.
New York Islanders Acquire Tyce Thompson
The New York Islanders have acquired forward Tyce Thompson from the New Jersey Devils. In exchange, the Islanders have sent forward Arnaud Durandeau to New Jersey.
The deal is a swap of 24-year-old wingers with minimal NHL experience who are each playing for their team’s AHL affiliates this season.
Thompson is the younger brother of Buffalo Sabres superstar Tage Thompson. Formerly an NCAA hockey star as the captain of Providence College, Thompson has struggled to translate the success of his collegiate career to the professional level.
After his final game for Providence, the Devils gave Thompson his first taste of professional hockey near the end of 2020-21, and even had him play in seven contests at the NHL level.
Seven NHL games made it clear that Thompson would need some development at the AHL level before he’d truly be NHL-ready. So the Devils had him spend most of his injury-shortened 2021-22 campaign with their AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets. Thompson scored 15 points in 16 games and at times for Utica looked like the dominant player he was at Providence, but the injury he suffered meant that he couldn’t display that form over the course of an entire AHL season.
Last year, Thompson struggled to have the same kind of impact he had the year prior. In a year where he would have ideally made a strong push toward becoming a true NHLer, Thompson only managed 26 points in 56 games in the AHL. He only received two NHL games as a result, and lost ground on the Devils’ depth chart to more prolific AHL scorers such as Graeme Clarke.
With this trade, Thompson receives a change of scenery. It’s something that appeared necessary for his chances of becoming an NHLer, due to the fact that he so far has only scored five points in 15 games for Utica. A pending restricted free agent, this season is a crucial one for Thompson’s development.
This trade allows Thompson to develop in a new AHL environment, and it also lands him in an organization his family has some deep ties to. Thompson’s father, Brent, served as the Islanders’ AHL head coach from 2014-15 through 2022-23. Thompson’s assistant for two years, Rick Kowalsky, is now Bridgeport’s head coach. Beyond just the family connection, Kowalsky also has experience with Tyce Thompson, as he served as a coach in the Devils organization when Thompson originally signed with the club out of Providence.
As for the Devils’ side of this trade, the deal first and foremost is a nice service to Thompson, who looked less and less likely to be part of the club’s future plans. By sending him to an organization he already has some ties with, some may believe that they’re sending him to the place where he stands the best possible chance of developing into an NHL player.
Beyond just doing a favor to Thompson, they’re also receiving a quality player in return. Durandeau has been a nice developmental success story for the Islanders, as he’s already become a better player than most organizations would typically expect sixth-rounders to become.
A former teammate of Timo Meier and Nico Hischier with the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads, Durandeau worked his way up from the ECHL to become a solid top-six forward for the Bridgeport Islanders. In 2021-22, Durandeau cemented himself as a quality AHLer by scoring 15 goals and 37 points in 64 games. Then last season Durandeau had a real breakout campaign, putting together 24 goals and 55 points in 68 games. That performance ranked Durandeau third in team scoring and even earned him his first-ever NHL call-up.
Over the summer, Bridgeport lost two of its top scorers in Chris Terry and Andy Andreoff. The Islanders have struggled mightily to score goals as a result, and Durandeau’s production has declined sharply. At the time of writing, he has just four points in 12 AHL games, which is far below what Bridgeport’s fans have come to expect of him. Perhaps playing in a new environment in Utica will help Durandeau return to his production levels from the past two years.
He’s not heading to an extremely favorable environment, though, as although he’s leaving the AHL’s second-lowest scoring club, he’s only upgrading to a team that ranks 23rd in the AHL in goals scored.
It’s possible the plan for Durandeau in Utica is to pair him with fellow former QMJHL star and Montreal native Xavier Parent. Parent, who earned his way to Utica via a spectacular rookie professional campaign in the ECHL last season, would give Durandeau a caliber of linemate similar to what he grew accustomed to playing with Terry and Andreoff last year.
The bottom line for these deals is relatively simple: both players are in need of changes of scenery and both AHL squads need an offensive spark. The Islanders receive a former NCAA star who current and former members of their organization are likely highly familiar with, while the Devils receive a former QMJHL star who could potentially have chemistry with key AHLers in Utica.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Islanders Recall Grant Hutton
While the Islanders added some defensive depth today when they claimed Mike Reilly off waivers from Florida, more reinforcements appear to be needed for their game tonight against Philadelphia as Newsday’s Andrew Gross relays (Twitter link) that Grant Hutton has been added to New York’s roster.
The 28-year-old last saw NHL action during the 2021-22 season when he got into 16 games at the top level. He didn’t dominate but held his own while averaging a little over 14 minutes of playing time, resulting in the Isles giving him a three-year deal that summer with two of those seasons being a one-way salary.
However, since then, Hutton has cleared waivers twice and has played exclusively with AHL Bridgeport until now. Last season, the blueliner had ten points in 39 games and is on a similar points pace this year with five points – all assists – in his first 16 appearances.
With Reilly only being claimed off waivers earlier this afternoon, there’s no guarantee that he will be available against the Flyers. Meanwhile, Sebastian Aho’s availability is also in question after leaving yesterday’s game early with an injury so Hutton will be available to suit up if those two aren’t able to play.
New York had a vacant roster spot following the placement of Matt Martin on injured reserve earlier today while the cap space was created earlier in the day when Adam Pelech was placed on LTIR. Accordingly, no further roster moves were necessary to add Hutton to the active roster.
Matt Martin Placed On IR
- After putting Adam Pelech on LTIR earlier in the day, the Islanders also announced (Twitter link) that winger Matt Martin has been placed on IR. The placement is retroactive to November 15th which means that he will be eligible to be activated as soon as he is cleared to return. Martin has a goal and an assist in 14 games this season along with seven penalty minutes and 31 hits while his playing time has dipped to just 8:27 per night.
Islanders Claim Mike Reilly Off Waivers From Panthers
With Adam Pelech going on LTIR earlier today, the Islanders have found his replacement, at least in the short term as the team announced that they’ve claimed defenseman Mike Reilly off waivers from Florida.
Last season was a rough one for Reilly as he spent most of the year with Boston’s AHL affiliate in Providence with no team willing to take him on at a $3MM AAV off the waiver wire. He became an unrestricted free agent this summer after the final year of that deal was bought out by the Bruins and he quickly found a landing spot in Florida, who inked him to a one-year, $1MM contract.
The 30-year-old had been on the roster for the Panthers all season long but despite the long-term injuries to Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour, Reilly suited up just twice. Relegated to the eighth blueliner, Florida waived him yesterday in an effort to get him to their AHL affiliate in Charlotte but that won’t be the case now. However, Reilly’s contract now comes off their books, giving Florida some extra salary cap space at their disposal.
The Isles didn’t have the cap space to pick Reilly up until this morning when Pelech landed on LTIR. Once Pelech is cleared to return, New York will have to create some cap room to activate him and will need to move someone else off the roster if they want to keep Reilly in the fold at that time.
Between that injury and the one to Sebastian Aho (both of which occurred yesterday against Ottawa), Reilly could find himself in a situation where playing time will come much more frequently, at least for the time being. A veteran of 341 games between five different teams, Reilly has 98 points and could add a bit of firepower to a back end that has just seven goals on the season, five of which have come from Noah Dobson. Reilly will once again be an unrestricted free agent next summer.