The injury bug is already coming for the Islanders.
Captain Anders Lee will miss the next 1-2 weeks with an upper-body injury, the team announced Wednesday after Lee did not practice.
Lee will skate on his own Thursday, coach Patrick Roy said. The timeline was cast as precautionary by an Islanders spokesman, and there does not appear to be much worry that he will miss the start of the regular season.
Roy said that Lee suffered the injury in the preseason opener on Sunday when he was tripped into the boards.
Max Tsyplakov also missed Wednesday’s practice, with what the Islanders called maintenance and skated on his own. Roy said he would not rejoin the group Thursday and was considered day-to-day.
Islanders captain Anders Lee has an upper-body injury and will be out 1-2 weeks. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
Emil Heineman took Lee’s spot on the left side of Mat Barzal in Wednesday’s practice, with Kyle MacLean and Marc Gatcomb on either side of Casey Cizikas on the fourth line, where Heineman and Tsyplakov had been prior.
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This comes in addition to injuries that have kept Semyon Varlamov and Pierre Engvall from the ice for the duration of camp so far.
Engvall was projected to return to practice 2-3 weeks from the start of training camp, which would line up with the start of the regular season.
“Quite honestly, I think it’s OK,” Roy said of Engvall’s progress. “I think he’s doing good, so we’ll see.”
Pierre Engvall Robert Sabo for NY Post
The Islanders have not announced a timeline for Varlamov, and it looks like a strong possibility that David Rittich will start the regular season as Ilya Sorokin’s backup. Varlamov has been skating on his own.
Asked on Wednesday whether Varlamov was close to rejoining the group, Roy gave a direct, “No.”