The New York Islanders opened training camp on Thursday. The team received good news heading into camp, with Mathew Barzal being deemed good to go. Now, the Islanders received some negative news, as two players will be out with injury as the team prepares for the 2025-26 season.
The Islanders have announced forward Pierre Engvall and goaltender Semyon Varlamov will both miss time with injury. Engvall was injured late last season and had hip surgery over the summer. He is expected to miss 2-3 weeks. The team opens the season on October 9 on the road against the Pittsburgh Penguins. This time frame places his availability for the first game of the year in doubt.
Varlamov played in just 10 games in 2024-25 before needing season-ending surgery in November. He has been skating on his own, but is not ready to rejoin the team. There is no timetable for his return.
What is the impact on the Islanders?
While it is disappointing for the team to be missing two players as they open camp, the long-term impacts may not be massive. Engvall had a solid season with the Islanders in 2023-24, playing 74 games, lighting the lamp 10 times with 18 assists. Still, he struggled to open the year in 2024-25, leading to Engvall being waived. After not being claimed through waivers, he would spend time in the AHL before rejoining the Islanders.
Regardless, he played fourth-line minutes in his return. The team has Emil Heineman and Maxim Tsyplakov, who can fill that void on the bottom line.
Losing Varlamov last year hurt the Islanders. This led the team using three different goaltenders to back up starting netminder Ilya Sorokin. The group combined to be 2-7-3 with a goals-against average over 3.40 and a save percentage under .880. The team has already addressed the possibility of not having Varlamov this season.
The Islanders signed David Rittich to be an insurance policy during the offseason. New York may be down two netminders for now, but they have solutions to fill those voids.
