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Basking (like old, hungry lizards under a flickering 40 watt lightbulb) after their overtime win on Tuesday over Calgary, the Islanders made one move Tuesday, activating defenseman Ryan Pulock from injured reserve and loaning him to Bridgeport.
#Isles Transaction: Ryan Pulock has been activated off the team's IR list and has been loaned to Bridgeport.
— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) November 29, 2016
Now before we all FREAK OUT because Puluck is back down, bear in mind that Pulock suffered what apparently was a broken foot back on October 22nd in his first NHL game of season after a post-training camp demotion. Obviously, he hasn’t skated much since then and going to the Sound Tigers (who play tonight, BTW) is a way to get his stride back.
Pulock needs a couple of games to get back into game shape. Injury kept him off the ice for a bit. #Isles
— Brian Compton (@BComptonNHL) November 29, 2016
Sounds like Pelech skated on his own today, Seidenberg skated with the team and Pulock will play tonight in BPT. See what tomorrow brings.
— Arthur Staple (@StapeNewsday) November 29, 2016
(Update: Pulock did not play tonight for Bridgeport, so let’s assume he’ll be there through the weekend.)
Getting Pulock back as soon as he’s ready would be a good thing for the Islanders, who sport the league’s 25th best power play. Given how the season has gone, just seeing Pulock healthy and contributing for an extended period of time would be a victory.
We’re still unsure of the status of defenseman Adam Pelech, who didn’t play in the third period or overtime of Monday’s game after a hit from the Flames’ Micheal Ferland. But the prognosis from right after the game was that it wasn’t serious.
Meanwhile, another guy who’s about to get more playing time is Mathew Barzal, who was named to Team Canada’s World Junior Championship camp roster today.
Barzal, who - frustratingly - played two games for the Islanders this season before bring returned to Seattle of the WHL, joins Dylan Strome, prospective No. 1 overall draft choice Nolan Patrick and other notables at the camp.
Here’s Hockey Canada’s Joel Bouchard (a former Islander himself) talking about the camp and the players. He says he’ll be relying on returning players like Barzal to give the team a chance to win or something like that (around 1:25). Canada bombed last year’s tournament, finishing sixth.
As per my usual stance, when it comes to international hockey, I pretty much root exclusively for Islanders. So we’ll keep tabs on Barzal’s progress through camp and wish him luck in the tournament, which starts December 26th in Montreal and Toronto.