The Islanders made several changes to their roster on Thursday.
Alexander Romanov was placed on injured reserve due to an upper-body injury, which opened up one roster spot. Later, when Mark Gacom cleared waivers around 2 p.m., a second spot was available, allowing the team to bring in two additional players without cap issues.
They indeed needed both, as winger Maxim Shabanov was deemed day-to-day by coach Patrick Roy because of an upper-body injury and did not play in the 7-2 victory against the Red Wings.
Forward Matthew Highmore and defenseman Marshall Warren were called up from AHL Bridgeport to fill those roster spots, although neither was included in the lineup against Detroit.
Instead, Kyle MacLean stepped in as a fourth-row winger, while Simon Holmstrom moved up to the third row to take Shabanov’s place.
Roy expressed confidence in MacLean’s performance, mentioning, “I feel like he’s in control of the puck and seems very comfortable with it. He worked hard in the offseason and it paid off. I’m really happy with the game he played.”
Romanov’s IR status doesn’t affect his return timeline. His injury is retroactive to October 16, which means he has already met the minimum seven days required before going on IR.
Additionally, Pierre Engvall was placed on long-term injured reserve. While this might not seem significant, it does impact the Islanders’ salary cap situation. General manager Mathieu Darche stated that Engvall will be out for five to six months following ankle surgery.
Though the Islanders have cap space, they can use the extra $3 million gained from Engvall’s LTIR placement, but they won’t have access to it until he’s healthy, likely keeping them on LTIR until the trade deadline.
Changes could occur, yet the Isles weren’t projecting to gain $3 million in space at the deadline, not to mention the additional $5.75 million that might come from placing Semyon Varlamov on LTIR alongside Engvall. Varlamov is currently recovering from knee surgery and it’s unclear when he will make a return.
Darch noted that Varlamov has just begun testing his knee by getting into a goaltending stance.
In other news, Matthew Barzal sat out Thursday morning’s skate for stress management on his surgically repaired patella, although he did play against Detroit.
