The Islanders have lost Kyle Palmieri for the season as the top-six right wing requires surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee with a recovery timeline of six to eight months, the team announced on Saturday.
There was likely already a need for an additional scoring wing before Palmieri was injured in Friday night’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Flyers at UBS Arena. But the latest loss from the lineup probably heightens the urgency for first-year general manager Mathieu Darche to improve his squad prior to the March 6 trade deadline no matter how well Russian rookie Max Shabanov can play getting his top-six opportunity.
But Darche will have to monitor how the trade market develops and whether the two-week Olympic break in February will alter the timeline for teams to either declare as buyers or sellers.
“Even if you look the last few years, there’s a lot a lot of trades that happen earlier, too,” said Darche, previously the Lightning’s assistant GM under Julien BriseBois. “We made a lot of trades in Tampa during those years. It takes a few weeks, usually, for the player to get settled in. He comes into your environment, new coach, new system. So when you’re able to, you’d like to do something earlier rather than later, which is not always the case because the team that’s trading a player wants to wait it out to get the best they can.”
Palmieri was hurt as he checked defenseman Jamie Drysdale racing to the end wall in the offensive zone in the second period. He had to support himself along the glass as he kept weight off his left leg. But as he limped back toward the Islanders’ bench, he was able to steal the puck from unaware defenseman Emil Andrae and pass it to Jonathan Drouin before stepping off the ice. Drouin then fed Emil Heineman for a goal that sparked the Islanders’ rally from a three-goal deficit.
Palmieri could be a candidate to be the Islanders’ nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication based on that one play.
“No doubt it was a great play by him,” coach Patrick Roy said. “I mean, knowing that he’s been injured on the play, it showed the quality of the player he is and the person he is. It was pretty amazing.”
Still, the Islanders have to have a next-man-up mentality.
Over the course of 11 days, they’ve lost Palmieri and defenseman Alexander Romanov (right shoulder/injured reserve) for the rest of the regular season while third-line center Jean-Gabriel Pageau (upper body) is out two to three weeks.
But Darche also isn’t sure the condensed schedule before and after the Olympic break will be a significant factor in the trade market. Entering Saturday, only five points separated the top 10 teams in the Eastern Conference, a group that included the Islanders.
“The main thing about the condensed schedule is probably a little bit on the injury front,” Darche said. “What makes it a bit tougher right now, too, is there’s a lot of teams that are still in it. It’s so tight everywhere. There’s too many teams that are still in it right now that it’s fairly quiet.”
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.