Chew On This: Broken jaw possible for Islanders Seidenberg

Update: It’s officially official now, with an IR kicker:

Andy Graziano of Islanders Point Blank and SNY first reported that Islanders defenseman Dennis Seidenberg may have sustained a broken jaw in Saturday night’s 3-2 overtime loss in Florida.

Newsday’s Arthur Staple confirmed the possibility and said that Scott Mayfield should keep his phone handy (and he was right).

There’s no timetable yet for how long Seidenberg could be out but IR means seven days at the minimum. Although...

Seidenberg was hit in the face by a rising shot in the third period, just before Kyle Rau scored the Panthers’ first goal of the game. The Islanders defenseman left the game and didn’t return, meaning he, like us, watched impotently as Florida controlled play, scored the game-tying goal with 14 seconds left and dominated overtime before Denis Malgin scored the winner. So, yeah, fun night for everyone.

Seidenberg, 35, signed a one-year, $1 million contract following a great run with Team Europe at the World Cup of Hockey. Although his underlying numbers aren’t great (about a 46% 5v5 CF), he’s looked okay this season, mostly on the Islanders’ third pair.

If you told me at the time of his signing that he’d be tied for third on the team’s scoring list with eight points (four goals, four assists) after 15 games, I would have told you that that would mean the season had gone horribly awry. Well, guess what...

For those keeping score at home, Travis Hamonic remains out for about five more weeks with what turned out to be a broken thumb, and Ryan Pulock is still probably a month or so away with a broken foot. Adam Pelech was recalled from Bridgeport when Hamonic went down. Of course, the team can only carry six defenseman because they’ve got one extra goalie who hasn’t played yet and a bunch of extra young forwards that get rotated in and out of the lineup nightly.

At 5-7-3 two weeks into November, the chance of the Islanders making this season even a marginally successful one are hanging on for dear life. When an injury to a sixth defenseman seems like a significant complication, it’s fair to say that something’s off.