What is the story about?
We don’t know when Mat Barzal will play again, but it’s a good sign that he has joined the Islanders for their California trip, along with fellow injured teammates Matias Maccelli and Ryan Pulock. The center (he’ll ultimately be a center again, yes? no?) hasn’t played yet, dealing with inflammation from his broken knee cap of a couple years ago that bothered him all last season and kept him out of the World Championship.
It’s important that he get back into form so that his presence, along with Matthew
Schaefer, can convince Nikita Kucherov to come to Long Island in July 2027. Heh.
Islanders News
- Barzal is on the trip, and other things to watch as the Islanders visit the three underperforming California teams. [Newsday | Post]
- Barzal and Maccelli traded in their non-contact jerseys at Saturday’s practice, a good sign. [THN]
- Takeaways from the OT loss to the Devils: Schaefer on the performance, Bo on Sorokin’s big game. [Isles]
- The Skinny: “The Isles’ PK is 30-34 in the last 10 games, but the power play is 1-18 over the last six games and 3-32 over the last 11 games… Ilya Sorokin is now 10-0-4 in his career when facing at least 44 shots on goal.” [Isles]
- Logan Stanley was fined for that retaliatory slash on Nico Hischier that set off the big scrum. [THN]
- Ben Hutton stepping in while Scott Mayfield sits (instead of Matt Kessell) is another sign that Mayfield has an uphill battle under Pete DeBoer. [Post]
Elsewhere
- The Jets are feeling a little better as Connor Hellebuyck and the Devils head to town, though New Jersey announced the former Jet will not play against his former team. [NHL]
- GM Sunny Mehta brigns out his calculator to explain: “Connor Hellebuyck was adamant that he felt a duty to play on Tuesday in Winnipeg. However, in our estimation, playing in this game would potentially give us a reduction in our expected win probability.” [NHL]
- Hellebuyck is disappointed, but he says he understands. [Sportsnet]
- Will the Blackhawks rebuild ever turn a corner? (If the hockey gods are consistent, I’m thinking no, it’s gonna be another 30 years and counting…) [Sportsnet]
- Despite that question, they do not appear ready to fire Jeff Blashill though. [Sportsnet]
- The Court of Arbitration for Sport may say that international federations need to re-admit Russia, but that doesn’t mean sponsors and tournament holders need to play along. Why? Well, because the current and long-running Russian regime is one that invades neighbors, targets civilians, assassinates dissidents and is currently fomenting real and perceived threats at airports across Europe. Which, you know, is kind of problematic. [Athletic]
