The Islanders’ latest roster shuffle looks simple on paper, but there’s a little more going on underneath it.
New York placed forwards Cal Ritchie and Matias Maccelli on injured reserve retroactive to the Oct. 17 game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, when both were hurt. The expectation is that neither will be back for several weeks, and the team has turned to the Hamilton Hammers of the AHL in the meantime.
To get back to the 23-man roster required by league rules, the Islanders recalled Pierre Engvall and defenseman Kashawn Aitcheson to the NHL. Engvall’s promotion makes easy sense because he’s on an NHL one-way contract. Aitcheson’s presence is the one that raised eyebrows.
On the surface, the moves can be read as purely transactional. Bringing up Engvall adds his $3 million cap hit, while Aitcheson carries $500,00 in incentive bonuses that count toward pushing the team closer to the ceiling. That kind of accounting can matter later if the Islanders decide they need to sign another player and want as much salary on the books as possible to create flexibility.
There’s also a bigger layer to the maneuvering. By keeping injured Matthew Barzal and Alexander Romanov off Long-Term IR, the Islanders are preserving more cap space for a potential future move, whether that’s for another player or for assets.
The roster picture on the blue line is still very much unsettled. Coach Peter DeBoer said at practice yesterday before the Nashville game that every defense pairing is in play after Sunday’s rough 6-3 loss to the Dallas Stars.
“Everything is on the table,” . “It’s the first time we haven’t gotten points in five or six, so I think we’re going to look at everything lineup-based for tomorrow.”
Matthew Kessel has been playing fairly well, while Scott Mayfield, who has been out of favor, does not appear to be in DeBoer’s plans. That leaves open the possibility that the Islanders could be looking at adding a depth defenseman at some point during the 26/27 season.
For now, the team is still only 11 games into the season, so nothing is set in stone. If the Islanders climb in the standings by the new year, the front office may go after a top-six defenseman sooner rather than later. If not, Darche may choose to keep that cap space intact for the future.
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