Andrew Gross: Islanders can't use injuries as an excuse. They need their depth to play better.
Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov makes a save against the Predators during the second period of an NHL hockey game on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. Credit: AP Photo/John Amis/John Amis
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Teams won’t — or shouldn’t — use injuries as an excuse because every team deals with them. The better teams navigate those hurdles successfully.
But injuries can provide an explanation for why things happen.
For the Islanders, injuries to top-six forwards Mathew Barzal, Cal Ritchie and Matias Maccelli have severely impacted the team’s depth. It won’t be easy, but they need a better solution than what they’re getting.
It explained why coach Pete DeBoer dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the first time this season for Tuesday night’s match against the Predators at Bridgestone Arena while calling out his fourth line.
There was only two-thirds of a fourth line for the match with Kyle MacLean back to being a healthy scratch after three games in the lineup and defenseman Scott Mayfield dressing for just the third time this season.
“We do need some more out of the depth of our lineup,” DeBoer said. “Our fourth line’s underlying numbers haven’t been good. They’re not alone on that, either. But it’s a challenge to those groups, whoever is out there, to tilt the ice when they’re out there.”
Underlying numbers?
“I mean everything,” DeBoer said. “But, to simplify it, if your expected goals for and your expected goals against are not, at least, within the same zip code, that’s a problem.”
The latest iteration of the fourth line — Casey Cizikas skating between MacLean and Mitchell Chaffee — was together for the last three matches (1-1-1) and, per NaturalStatTrick.com, the trio had an expected goals for of 1.01 and an expected goals against of 1.33 in 23:31 of ice time skating five-on-five. It’s fair to note the Islanders keep their own analytical statistics rather than rely on publicly available websites.
It was also noted to DeBoer that earlier this season, he had said any wing who played with Cizikas seemed to do very well. Maccelli, Anthony Duclair and Ondrej Palat all used strong fourth-line play as a springboard to more ice time.
“That’s depth,” DeBoer said. “That’s what injuries do. We were in a situation where we were able to create some mismatches with depth. When you lose three or four forwards, that depth starts to get eaten away at.”
DeBoer also said he did not believe any of his six defensemen deserved to come out of the lineup after Sunday’s 6-3 loss to the Stars that opened this three-game road trip.
Not to nitpick, but that’s debatable given the high volume of odd-man chances the Stars had and the way the defensive structure — so good this season — showed cracks in the match.
So, enter Mayfield, who brings a physical presence and an ability to play on the penalty kill.
“For me, it’s just go out there and play my game,” Mayfield said. “I’ve stayed ready. I feel good out there.”
As for the injured forwards, they won’t be out there for a bit.
Barzal (left knee) has been unavailable since Day 1 of training camp and continues to skate on his own with no timeline for a return. Ritchie and Maccelli both suffered lower-body injuries in a 4-1 win in Toronto on Oct. 17, with Maccelli expected to miss two to four weeks and Ritchie four to six weeks.
So it seems reasonable to think something will have to give in terms of the personnel to bolster the depth. The Islanders did recall forward Pierre Engvall and defenseman Kashawn Aitcheson from their AHL affiliate in Hamilton, Ontario on Monday but that was just a paper transaction. It’s a complicated explanation but having those two on the roster, even briefly, with no expectation of either joining the team, helped the team’s salary-cap situation in accruing space.
If general manager Mathieu Darche is looking for an in-house option to bolster the forward depth — and help the underlying numbers — recalling the Hammers’ leading scorer Liam Foudy makes more sense.
“I thought we could have been a lot better last game,” Cizikas said of Sunday’s defeat. “Looking back, there’s plays to be made. We just didn’t execute and our battle level could have been higher from my perspective, just my line alone.
“[DeBoer] wants us to be a difference out there and bring energy, bring kind of havoc. Make it hard on opposing teams. We know what we have to do, we know how we have to play. It’s a matter of going out there and doing it.”
The Islanders have shown the ability to do so, the win over the Maple Leafs being the best example. Maccelli and Ritchie were hurt in the first period — Ritchie on his first shift — and the Islanders dominated despite being down to 10 forwards.
Playing with 11 is doable.
But probably not sustainable over a stretch of games.
Either the Islanders’ depth forwards need to play better, or Darche needs to get better depth at forward.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
