This is Exactly What The Islanders Needed... (not)

This is the exact opposite of what the New York Islanders need right now. We were hoping for some positive injury news to get this team healthy again. Instead, we get the update that Ryan Pulock will be out for two to four weeks. This is not ideal, especially watching the play where he got hurt. The Edmonton Oilers, mind you, he only played 55 seconds in that game. So you pretty definitively know that that's where it was. He kind of leans into an Edmonton player, but you wouldn't think much of anything. I was initially assuming that he would maybe miss a game to maybe something just wasn't feeling 100%. Again, this season, every single time I think that something is nothing, it tends to be worse than what it actually is, right? Every time I think something's the worst case scenario, it ends up not being as bad. I guess I should think more things are the worst case scenario. But at the end of the day, the Islanders will be without Ryan Pulock for two to four weeks. And as we're going to talk about in one second, I know that some people are probably sitting here like, who cares? He hasn't been good this season. It's true. Ryan Pulock has not been himself. I think injuries have been a part of that. I wonder maybe if this is something that has been lingering and it got worse because again, looking at that play, there wasn't much there and flukes happen, right? We see non-contact injuries sometimes, although it is a bit stranger for an upper body injury. End of the day, though, Ryan Pulock is going to miss some time and other Islanders are going to have to step up because say what you want about his play. It has not been perfect, but he plays some meaningful minutes for the New York Islanders. Now I notice here and it is skewed, right? At first I was like, wow, he's only playing seven minutes and 30 seconds per game. That's odd. And then I remembered this factors in that he played 55 seconds in that one game, which is going to draw down the average. In reality, Ryan Pulock has been averaging around 20 minutes a game. He's been an important part of this second pair for the New York Islanders. It has not been flashy. It's been uglier than it has been in years past, but he gets the job done for the most part. At this point, I think he is more of a fifth defenseman as opposed to a true top four defenseman. I was hoping at some point he could get back to that this season. And for the record, there is still plenty of time. And perhaps for Ryan Pulock, the best thing for his game right now is he has some time to sit. Fully recover and then come back and be a better version of himself. So absolutely do not rush him. He is 32, so there is reason to believe that he can somewhat bounce back. Last year's stats were deceiving when it comes to Matt. comes to Ryan Pulock because he was playing with Matthew Schaefer. But I do think we can get more of that 2024-2025 Ryan Pulock, where he was effective in the defensive zone, was doing enough to justify getting those top four minutes. We'll see what happens as the rest of the season. But in the meantime, the Islanders are going to have to figure something out here because while fans will sit here all day and say that Ryan Pulock is not good, he's no longer worth his money, I'm not even going to argue with people saying they don't like this player anymore. The reality of the situation is, especially you look at the right side of the New York Islanders, Ryan Pulock is the best right-handed defenseman they got. He's not the best defenseman that plays on their right side because Matthew Schaefer, and this is exactly why you put Matthew Schaefer on the right side, just shores everything up. But you're looking right now. Scott Mayfield, who a week ago we were talking about trading, you know, the meme, he accidentally became way too important at work. Scott Mayfield has suddenly become the secondary shutdown option for this team on the right side of the defense. Another thing that Ryan Pulock does a lot for this team that isn't talked about enough is he is crucial on the penalty kill. We'll see now if Matthew Schaefer starts getting more time on the penalty kill, which allows him less time on offense, right? Because you look at the rest of this defense here, Pulock is going to play a lot of the penalty kill. A ton of Stanley, a ton of Mayfield. After that, I don't think you're putting Tony D'Angelo out there on the penalty kill, so we'll see what they decide to do if it's a combination of Kessel. We'll also talk in a bit in this video about who they might either pick up or who call up for Ryan Pulock, but you can tell here, like looking at these pairs, and they'll be mixed up here, right? They mix it up just to have Pulock and Schaefer play against McDavid. I do think typically it is still going to be Logan Stanley and Matthew Schaefer as the first pair, which surprisingly has worked really well. And then on the second pair, we will have Ryan Pulock playing with Tony D'Angelo. That pair worked a lot last season. Maybe this will be something that can get Tony D'Angelo going because it is worth noting with Ryan Pulock now going to miss two to four weeks. Tony D'Angelo hasn't been all that great. And I'll add too when it comes to Pulock with Matthias Michel, the fact that he's already skating, I felt pretty optimistic that he can maybe come back closer to that too when it comes to two to four weeks because Ryan Pulock is an older player because you definitely I definitely don't want to rush him considering how injuries have plagued him in recent years. I do feel like this is going to be more like the full four weeks. Hopefully I'm wrong. We will see what happens. But definitely Scott Mayfield is now going to be a regular once again on this defense. We'll see if they end up going with Kessel consistently. It's worth noting during these few games where they were playing multiple, when they're playing seven defensemen, Kessel seemed to be the guy that was getting the least ice time. So I feel like that means he might be the first guy out. And it is worth noting the other day, the Islanders did call up Isaiah George. Although they instantly followed up with sending him back down. I wonder, some people were talking about this maybe being a paper transaction. I think this is a situation where because Hamilton had a game today, they were able to send him back down. I would not be surprised one bit if George is back with the Islanders for this week for practice. They do have a couple of days, which we're going to talk about in the later segment of this episode. I would not be surprised if George gets back in the lineup. Maybe not the first game, but he does play travel with the team and see how that goes. I think he was, while not great in the preseason, I said the same thing about Kessel and he's kind of shown that he's improved I wonder if George gets that same chance. And I will also note here, just because it's worth noting, Eiserman did take a shot to the head in one of those Hamilton games. I don't think it's too awful, but he did miss the game today. And as Stefan Raja says, he may miss some time after that. Hopefully it's not too long, but. An unfortunate hit. It got a five-minute major. Of course, the Hamilton Hammers have been struggling a lot. I don't really want to focus too much on this video on the Hamilton Hammers. What I did want to focus on is, is there a potential that the Islanders pick up a player instead of going with George, right? It is worth noting that George is playing his second game back from an injury himself to the head. So the Islanders' idea was for him to get more time in the AHL before he tries the NHL. Are they going to change their plan after two games? I think they will, but if they don't, one option that I think is pretty interesting, and that comes from Sam Sibler, is the Capitals have sent Dylan McElrath through waivers. He is a guy who has a lot of experience in the NHL. Now, it is not great NHL experience. I'm not going to sit here and rave about Dylan McElrath this season. He is a minus two. It has not been good. You look at the career of Dylan McElrath. This is a guy who was once a first-round pick and just turned out to be a complete disaster. So far for the Capitals, he's played four games, averaging four minutes per game. That tells you exactly what they think about this player. In fact, you look through his career times on ice last year, played 13 games for the Capitals on nine minutes. This is not a very strong defenseman, but he is a guy who has experience in the NHL and can play in a backup role. If the Islanders do not trust Isaiah George, I think they will pick up Dylan McElrath because again, he is on a league minimum contract. This is going to tell us a lot about what the team thinks about Isaiah George. I'm going to guess that they don't pick up Dylan McElrath. I'm going to guess that they end up giving Dylan, even if they don't call up Isaiah George right away. I think they're well aware that if another defenseman goes down, Isaiah George is the next man up. I think they're going to be comfortable with that. And we will see what happens. I definitely think while a lot of fans after him, he missed the team sort of gave up on Isaiah George or lowered his ceiling. I don't think him struggling training camp really changed all that much for this player. I still think he does have a future in the NHL, Well, whether that's as a sixth or seventh guy or. As high as like a number four guy on a team with a struggling defense, we will see, but it'll be interesting to see if the Islanders end up making that call. And finally, considering that we have the two to four week time frame, I do want to take a quick look at the schedule to show how the Islanders right now have a bit of an advantage here where their next game is not until the fifth. So they have four full days of practice. To recover for a player like Isaiah George to get into the lineup, that's huge in terms of players getting healthier. That's a lot of time for Matias Michelli to continue to skate, maybe even start skating with the team. I wouldn't expect him back on the fifth, but who knows? By the time they hit that road trip, I think there's a good chance Michelli can be back. The same goes for Matt Barzell, although I'm not going to hold my breath this time. I don't know how long it's going to be until he starts skating with the team, how long until he comes back. But those five games, those five days where you don't have any games, that certainly helps. Look at how long goes by with those two weeks here, right? You have a couple easy games after that. The Western Road Trip is not what it's once been. This Columbus Blue Jackets, I was arguing with somebody on Twitter that they are an absolute disaster of a team right now. And then the two weeks kind of ends around with the Jets. So you take a further look. At the Islanders schedule for this month, they should be able to survive some injuries here, right? I understand it sucks now you're missing Romanov and Pollock. That, to start the year, was your second pair. These are teams that you should at least be competitive with despite injuries, right? You look further ahead. The Detroit Red Wings, the Blues are a mess. The Jets again. The Jets are in free fall right now. The Flyers might be one of the worst teams in the entire NHL. So if there is a time to kind of weather the storm with injuries and then come back strong in the next month, this is a month where the Islanders can do a lot of damage and come back strong. I do think those two games against the Hurricanes and Devils are going to be very brutal without Ryan Polacco, without all the forwards that they're missing. But after this, I do think that the Islanders can have a good stretch here. But let me know what you think in the comments below. That's the end of this episode of Islanders Digest. If you have not already, be sure to subscribe to the channel. Appreciate all your support. Catch you on the next episode.