New York Islanders defenseman Logan Stanley has been fined $3,865 by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety for slashing New Jersey Devils forward Nico Hischier, the league announced Sunday.
That amount is the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement.
The play came during New Jersey’s 5-4 overtime win over the Islanders, and it turned ugly in a hurry. Stanley and Hischier were battling in front of the New York net when Stanley delivered several massive whacks at Hischier, sending him down to the ice before a scrum broke out around the crease.
Stanley was assessed two minor penalties on the sequence, though the Devils were only hit with a two-minute penalty because they were also penalized during the scrum.
Stanley, in his seventh NHL season, has five assists and 34 penalty minutes in 16 games while averaging 21:16 of ice time. The 6-foot-7 defenseman has 14 goals and 53 assists for 67 points in 294 career regular-season games with the Islanders, Buffalo Sabres and Winnipeg Jets.
Hischier, 27, has seven goals and four assists for 11 points in 17 games with the Devils this season. The New Jersey captain is in his 10th NHL season and has 206 goals and 293 assists for 499 points in 626 career regular-season games.
The Islanders are 7-6-3 with 17 points through 16 games in 2026-27. Forward Bo Horvat and defenseman Matthew Schaefer are tied for the team lead with 16 points. Horvat has a team-best seven goals, while Schaefer leads the club with 11 assists.
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From the Devils perspective, the bigger story is what the deal allowed them to do next. Palt has not made much of an impact on Long Island, while New Jersey used the move to open up cap space and create the kind of flexibility that can matter over multiple seasons. Even as the pieces from that transaction have continued to move elsewhere, the Devils willingness to cut bait looks more and more like a front-office decision that helped set up the rest of their roster-building plan. [Read more 🡒]