Ethan Sears
41 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 If the Islanders want to take up the maxim of never letting a crisis go to waste, there is an opportunity to parlay Alexander Romanov’s ACL tear into a star defenseman, should general manager Mathieu Darche be willing to take considerable risk to get there.
🔮 The revamped pairs, with Logan Stanley to Matthew Schaefer’s left, Scott Mayfield inserted into the lineup on Tony DeAngelo’s right and the Adam Pelech-Ryan Pulock duo reunited for the first time since last November, put in a good night of work against a Chicago side that is now 1-4-0 as its long rebuild trudges on.
🔮 Coach Pete DeBoer kept Matthew Schaefer on the right and inserted Scott Mayfield into the lineup for Thursday’s match against the Blackhawks at UBS, moving Logan Stanley to the top pair alongside Schaefer and Tony DeAngelo to his off side on Mayfield’s left.
🔮 Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche said last week that Barzal would likely only need a few practices with the team once he was back on the ice, which could in theory slate him for a return as soon as next week.
🔮 He will undergo surgery to repair the injury and miss 6-8 months.
🔮 If Romanov misses time, the immediate question is whether the Islanders will look to call up Isaiah George, who entered camp as a likely third-pair defenseman before losing the job, or Kashawn Aitcheson, the top prospect who likely outplayed George in camp.
🔮 While Varlamov will want more performance-wise — he gave up three goals on 22 shots before the Rangers scored twice into an empty net — if there was ever a night in which a player was above criticism, this was it.
🔮 The Islanders might be in a tight race again, and so there may come a point in the season where it gets hard to rest Sorokin.
🔮 The Devils couldn’t say they were terribly outplayed.
🔮 He knows that description probably isn’t quite right, but he expects others who have been through the same injury will know what he’s talking about.
Also by Ethan Sears
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this
article, so these are simply their most recent.
The Aporia
