The New York Islanders got 2026 Training Camp rolling Thursday morning, and the first day on the ice came with a few notable absences and a handful of veterans mixing in with the group work.
Mathew Barzal did not skate Thursday and is expected to miss two weeks because of knee inflammation.
The Blue Group led off the veteran side of camp, with forwards including Bo Horvat, Kyle Palmieri, Anthony Duclair, Pierre Engvall, Casey Cizikas, Simon Holmstrom and Ondrej Palat. Mitchell Chaffee, Matthew Highmore, Daylan Kuefler, Matt Luff, Tomas Poletin and Luca Romano were also in that group. On defense, Adam Pelech, Tony DeAngelo, Alexander Romanov, Scott Mayfield, Calle Odelius, Marshall Warren and Vladimir Dravecky were listed, with Vitek Vanecek and Semyon Varlamov in goal.
The line combinations in blue had Holmstrom with Horvat and Palmieri, Palat with Cizikas and Duclair, Engvall with Kuefler and Chaffee, and Poletin with Romano and Luff. On the back end, Pelech paired with DeAngelo, Romanov with Mayfield, and Warren with Odelius.
The White Group featured a mix of young talent and established names. Matias Maccelli skated with Calum Ritchie and Brayden Schenn, while Victor Eklund lined up with Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Emil Heineman.
Cole Eiserman was with Kyle MacLean and Joey Larson, and Daniil Prokhorov skated with Liam Foudy and, according to the listed lines, Jefferies. On defense, Matthew Schaefer was with Ryan Pulock, Isaiah George with Matt Kessel, and Kashawn Aitcheson with Ethan Bear.
Ilya Sorokin, Joshua Kotai and Henrik Tikkanen were the goaltenders in that group.
The Orange Group opened the day on the ice. That group included forwards Cameron Berg, Hunter Drew, Quinn Finley, Jesse Nurmi and Cam Thiesing, with Ryan Healey, Luke Rowe and Brandon Scanlin on defense.
Ryan Fanti and Burke Hood handled the net. Finley skated in a red non-contact jersey.
There were also some welcome additions to the Blue Group skate. Engvall, Palmieri, Romanov and Varlamov all joined practice after long-term injuries.
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