{"id":507428,"date":"2026-03-17T08:22:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T08:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/507428\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T08:22:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T08:22:20","slug":"islanders-provide-some-clarity-on-semyon-varlamov-after-rare-practice-appearance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/507428\/","title":{"rendered":"Islanders provide some clarity on Semyon Varlamov after rare practice appearance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"New<\/p>\n

Semyon Varlamov’s absence has so far spanned 16 months and is expected to last through this season.<\/p>\n

TORONTO \u2014 Semyon Varlamov\u2019s absence, which has so far spanned 16 months and is expected to last through this season, stems from two knee replacement surgeries, Islanders coach Patrick Roy told reporters after Varlamov briefly joined the team for practice Monday.<\/p>\n

Varlamov, who had been working on another rink with Pierre Engvall and Alexander Romanov, came over to the main practice rink while the Islanders were stretching and took some shots.<\/p>\n

It was the first time he\u2019d been with the team in any capacity during a practice since getting hurt in November 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great for him,\u201d Roy said. \u201cHe\u2019s been working so hard to get where he is. Two knee replacements, come on. It\u2019s not an easy thing for a goaltender, but he\u2019s been here a lot and he\u2019s been doing everything the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Specific details, such as whether he had the same knee replaced twice and the timing of the surgeries, were not given.<\/p>\n

The last time Varlamov spoke to reporters, on breakup day last season, he said he had \u201ca procedure done on my knee in December,\u201d and that he expected to play this season.<\/p>\n

\"Semyon<\/p>\n

Semyon Varlamov\u2019s absence has so far spanned 16 months and is expected to last through this season. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n

The Islanders appeared relatively optimistic about the situation even through July, when David Rittich\u2019s signing was framed as a just-in-case move, but by training camp, it was clear Varlamov would not be back anytime soon.<\/p>\n

General manager Mathieu Darche confirmed the obvious at the trade deadline, saying Varlamov wouldn\u2019t play this season.<\/p>\n

Still, he\u2019s continued to rehab, presumably with the goal of playing next season.<\/p>\n

If Varlamov can somehow return to the NHL after two major surgeries and nearly two years of rehab, it would be nothing short of incredible.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything he does has been to get back into action,\u201d Mat Barzal told reporters. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the last guys in here, stretching upstairs, working on his knee. I was there with him last year. We both got surgery around the same time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe commitment that he was putting in to try to get back every day, there was never a moment of, \u2018I\u2019m not gonna play again.\u2019 It was always, \u2018When am I gonna play,\u2019 that kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Max Shabanov missed practice and is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.<\/p>\n

Ilya Sorokin will start in net Tuesday night against the Maple Leafs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Semyon Varlamov’s absence has so far spanned 16 months and is expected to last through this season. TORONTO…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507429,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5108],"tags":[6686,3644,5180,897,230,5179,7207,5,277,122,59501,4,2905,6870,59502,6235,4937],"class_list":["post-507428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-columbus-blue-jackets","tag-alexander-romanov","tag-blue-jackets","tag-bluejackets","tag-columbus","tag-columbus-blue-jackets","tag-columbusbluejackets","tag-david-rittich","tag-hockey","tag-ilya-sorokin","tag-islanders","tag-knee-replacement","tag-nhl","tag-patrick-roy","tag-pierre-engvall","tag-practice-rink","tag-semyon-varlamov","tag-the-islanders"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116243553491229149","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}