The New York Islanders have placed defenseman Scott Mayfield on injured reserve, retroactive to Dec. 11. Mayfield has been out with an upper-body injury since that date.
With Mayfield out, the Islanders are now missing three of their four most important defensemen. Just Noah Dobson remains in the lineup, as Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock are also out with their own injuries.
This has left head coach Lane Lambert short on options as to how to staff not only his even-strength defensive pairings but also (and especially) his penalty kill. Pelech, Pulock, and Mayfield all play massive roles on the team’s short-handed unit, and with the trio injured the Islanders are relying on players who don’t typically see heavy ice time on the penalty kill.
The Islanders have made two external additions to bolster their defensive depth, adding veterans Mike Reilly and Robert Bortuzzo, and those moves have helped. The Islanders are on a four-game winning streak and making a serious push for a position in the Metropolitan Division.
But one has to think that a defense patched together with depth blueliners alongside relatively unestablished names such as Sebastian Aho and Samuel Bolduc can only hold down the fort for so long, regardless of how good the team looks in the immediate term.
The Islanders have won a ton of close victories, and while it’s true that close victories count the same amount in the standings as blowouts, one wonders how the conversations surrounding the team would be different if a few of those results were flipped.
That being said, it must be pointed out that this Islanders team is one seemingly constructed to thrive in close games, using goaltending and a balanced forward corps to grind out victories. So while the injuries that have struck their defense appear to be significant, the Islanders could very well continue their winning ways by following that clear blueprint.
Seeing as Mayfield’s IR placement is retroactive, there appears to be hope that the player will be able to return to the ice without a lengthy absence. But even if he is out longer than expected, the Islanders have found ways to win despite losing important players to injury. There’s no reason to believe that the team can’t do the same for as long as Mayfield is on IR.
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