TAMPA, Fla. — The Islanders have remade their blue line over the past seven days, but that is not a permanent state of affairs.
There will be decisions coming soon — hopefully as soon as after the 4 Nations break later this month — once Noah Dobson (right leg) and Ryan Pulock (upper body) get healthy.
“Mike [Reilly’s] situation is certainly unique and that is not a physical decision. That’s something he and the doctors have to decide when the appropriate time is and I do not have an answer for that,” general manager Lou Lamoriello said Saturday before the Islanders’ 3-2 overtime win over the Lightning. “As far as Noah and Ryan, hopefully they’ll be skating during the break, the latter part of the break. We’ll see where they’re at at that given time.”
More concerning than the defense might be the Islanders’ situation in nets.
Lamoriello indicated that Semyon Varlamov suffered a setback with his lower-body injury, saying the Isles are holding him off the ice right now after he faced shots last month.
Varlamov’s timeline is indefinite, with Marcus Hogberg (upper body) facing an approximate four-week recovery, Lamoriello said.
If all goes well, that should put Hogberg on track to return around the time the Islanders reconvene following the 4 Nations break.
For now, Jakub Skarek is the Islanders backup netminder, and will face the Panthers on Sunday on the second end of a back-to-back.
The Isles’ latest blue-line acquisition, Adam Boqvist, made his debut with the team Saturday and scored a goal, taking the spot previously occupied by Isaiah George, who was sent down to Bridgeport.
Both Lamoriello and coach Patrick Roy praised the 20-year-old George, saying he had done a good job over his 33-game stint with the team.
Lamoriello said he spoke with George on the team plane and got the sense that being sent back down was “a little bit of a relief” after recent struggles.
“I told him that we brought him up really early and he just did a tremendous job here,” Lamoriello said. “And what happened was, he started to make a couple mistakes. They snowballed and confidence gets in the way. And then the recovery period of that sometimes takes a little longer.
“There’s nothing wrong with the experience you had. Now go down and just grow a little more and you’ll be back in the NHL before you know it. He has all the ability, tremendous instincts, and what he has you can’t teach is skating ability. And he was in great spirits.”
There was no update on Mat Barzal or Scott Mayfield after both left Saturday’s game with apparent leg injuries.
Anthony Duclair (illness) was out for Saturday’s game.
Max Tsyplakov was promoted to the second line in Duclair’s usual spot, with Pierre Engvall drawing in on the fourth line.
