In 2004, shortly after pulling off the first undefeated season that top-tier English soccer had seen in over a century, the London club Arsenal began an austerity period where they put a lid on player acquisition spending while they paid off a new stadium they were building. (Self-funded stadiums? A very foreign concept to American pro sports, that.)
As luck would have it, this period of spending restriction coincided with a Russian oligarch buying a rival London club and infusing gobs of cash into
it, setting off a rich-crook’s-plaything trend that continues today, joined by Arab sovereign wealth funds and the like.
While Chelsea’s Putin Pal was buying players at their career peak, Arsenal was selling them and relying on younger, cheaper players (who would also inevitably be sold or request transfers to richer clubs). During this time, with fans frustrated that Arsenal wasn’t in the running to sign big stars, they’d laugh as their manager would occasionally refer to a player returning from long-term injury as “like a new signing.”
After a quiet summer, the 2026-27 New York Islanders have no notable* acquisitions, only rehabbing players whose returns are “like a new signing.”
*On no planet are Matias Maccelli or Vitek Vanecek notable additions, bless their hearts.
They also have no captain, as they let Anders Lee walk at age 36 after 13+ seasons, 923 games and tying Denis Potvin for longest tenure wearing the “C” (eight seasons).
But they’ve got another soon-to-be-36-year-old winger. Kyle Palmieri is returning from what should go down as the best ACL injury in history, pulling himself up off the ice and pulling off a puck heist and then assisting on a goal that was scored as he limped to the dressing room.
But like Lee, he was never a speed demon. It took Lee a half season at least to get back into form following a major knee injury, and that was when he was still in his 20s. There’s no questioning Palmieri’s commitment and surely determined rehab, but are we expecting him to be even a 20-goal scorer again in the first season post-injury?
Alex Romanov is younger and suffered an injury that shouldn’t affect his mobility, a freak collarbone crash on a totally innocent shove from behind by Mikko Raantanen. He missed all but 15 games last season, and frankly they were an ugly 15. He looked nothing like the responsible bone-crushing defenseman who received a long-term extension that summer [insert #DobsonWars].
So that’s where two huge questions lie for the 2026-27 Islanders. These aren’t top-line/top-pair players, but they are supposed to be mid-lineup strengths. If they each return to their best pre-injury form, then yeah, they’d be kind of like “new signings” compared to the 2025-26 Isles who spent most of the season without them.
Of course, that team still fell eight points short of a playoff spot. You need more than these two guys beating the odds to make up that gap.
Which brings us to the third return from major injury: Semyon Varlamov has somehow returned after having two extensive “knee procedures.” He looked capable in his brief Bridgeport (R.I.P.) rehab assignment during last season’s final week. But he’s 38, and knees are kind of a big deal for NHL goalies.
Mathieu Darche spoke about all three of them this week, with Arsene Wenger-like optimism:
- On Romanov, whom the Isles would’ve played had they made the playoffs: “He’s 12 pounds lighter. That’s as good as I’ve seen him, the way he’s moving on the ice.”
- On Palmieri: “Been skating all summer. He looks great, fully healthy.”
- On Varlamov: “Almost a miracle…hopefully he’s ready to give us a lot of games this year.”
But wait, there’s more! Darche also said Pierre Engvall is ready after missing all of last season with hip and ankle injuries.
Even when healthy, Engvall can swing from looking “like a new signing” to looking “like a guy who’s only played floor hockey in co-ed gym class.” A source of frustration for Patrick Roy, Engvall is hard to picture as a guy that would earn Pete DeBoer’s trust.
But as with all of these returnees, we’ll soon see how they’re doing and where they stand.
