The New York Islanders are using their break to patch up a blue line that has taken hit after hit, and veteran defenseman Ben Hutton is the latest name to enter the picture.
With Ryan Pulock now sidelined and Alexander Romanov already out, the Islanders have been forced to keep adjusting on the back end. That’s pushed the team toward a professional tryout for Hutton, a move that gives them another experienced option as the injuries keep stacking up.
The timing makes sense for a club that has managed to stay afloat despite a long list of absences. Mathew Barzal still hasn’t played this season, while Matias Maccelli and Cal Ritchie have also missed time. Even so, New York has hung around in the playoff conversation, helped by strong starts from Bo Horvat and Matthew Schaefer.
That resilience has been the story so far. The Islanders came into the season with mixed expectations, but they’ve kept competing by leaning on a next-man-up approach. Now the challenge is on the blue line, where the loss of Pulock adds another layer of strain to a group already missing Romanov.
Hutton, 33, spent the last five years with the Vegas Golden Knights and saw plenty of action for them last season. In the 2025-26 campaign, he posted six goals and nine assists.
For the Islanders, the appeal is obvious: a veteran who has been around a winning environment and can help stabilize things if he earns a contract. Right now, Isaiah George is serving as the team’s seventh defenseman, and that’s not an ideal spot for a young player.
If Hutton is in game shape and the Islanders like what they see, he could give them the kind of depth they need on a battered blue line.
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Islanders Head Into Break With A Scoring Problem DeBoer Must Fix
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Special teams did not offer much help, either, as the Islanders came up empty on four power-play chances and never put enough sustained pressure on Edmonton to change the tone. With an extended pause before their next game against the Carolina Hurricanes, the break now looms as a chance to get healthier and sort out a scoring issue that has become hard to ignore. [Read more 🡒]