{"id":545372,"date":"2026-04-07T11:20:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/545372\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T11:20:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:20:17","slug":"key-defenseman-targeting-return-from-shoulder-injury-before-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/545372\/","title":{"rendered":"Key defenseman targeting return from shoulder injury before playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nhl\/new-york-islanders\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New York Islanders<\/a> defenseman Alexander Romanov could <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/news\/nhl-status-report-news-and-notes-april-6-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">rejoin the lineup<\/a> before the conclusion of the regular season, general manager Mathieu Darche said on Monday. The 26-year-old has been out since November 18, 2025, after sustaining a shoulder injury in a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars following a late-period hit from Mikko Rantanen. The injury required surgery, causing him to miss the last 58 games.<\/p>\n<p>After skating in a non-contact jersey for previous sessions, Romanov will take part in full-contact practices for the first time this week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is potentially a chance for the last game or two of the season that he might be back,\u201d said Darche. \u201cThis week is the first week he&#8217;s going to do full practice with contact, so sometimes it takes a little while also to get back at it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Over 15 appearances this season, Romanov has recorded one assist, 17 shots on goal, 31 blocked shots, and 31 hits.<\/p>\n<p>New York plays four remaining regular-season games, starting Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nhl\/new-york-islanders\/islanders-news-how-long-peter-deboers-contract-after-ny-hire\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Newly hired head coach Peter DeBoer<\/a> rotated defensive pairs throughout Monday&#8217;s practice, while top forwards Anders Lee, Bo Horvat, and Anthony Duclair led the first line. Worth mentioning, Semyon Varlamov took part in a full practice for the first time since undergoing bilateral knee replacements in November 2024, although he will not return this season.<\/p>\n<p>Darche also mentioned the potential call-up of AHL Bridgeport&#8217;s Victor Eklund, who has six points in four games since arriving from Sweden. With the Islanders needing victories in the closing games to secure a playoff spot, Romanov&#8217;s timely return could provide a much-needed boost to the team&#8217;s defensive depth.<\/p>\n<p>New York Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov could rejoin the lineup before the conclusion of the regular season, general manager Mathieu Darche said on Monday.  The 26-year-old has been out since November 18, 2025, after sustaining a shoulder injury in a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars following a late-period hit from Mikko Rantanen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov could rejoin the lineup before the conclusion of the regular season, general&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5110],"tags":[5,122,3328,159,5190,5189,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-545372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-islanders","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-islanders","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-islanders","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkislanders","14":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116363160814243304","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545372","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=545372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}