Islanders’ Mat Barzal to miss training camp with injury

New York Islanders forward Mat Barzal will miss the next two weeks — spanning the entirety of the team’s 2026 training camp — due to “aggravation of a prior injury,” the club announced Wednesday afternoon.

Barzal, 29, appeared in 81 of a possible 82 games with the Islanders during the 2025-26 regular season, but it now remains to be seen whether he’ll be ready to start the 2026-27 campaign.

“Mathew Barzal will not skate the next two weeks due to aggravation of a prior injury that has caused some inflammation,” the Islanders shared in a statement on Wednesday. “He is actively working to get back to full health.

“There is nobody more committed than Mathew to getting his body to the level where he thrives on the ice,” the update continued. “We expected him to continue getting healthy and back in the lineup as soon as possible.”

Barzal led the Islanders in scoring during the 2025-26 season with 72 points (19 goals, 53 assists) in 81 games. The 6’1″, right-handed center is under contract with the Islanders through 2031 at a $9.15 million cap hit.

In the 2024-25 season, Barzal missed a total of 52 games while dealing with multiple injuries, including a broken kneecap sustained in February that sidelined him for the rest of the year.

A first-round pick (No. 16 overall) of the Islanders in the 2015 NHL Draft, Barzal excelled with the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds over parts of four seasons before turning pro in 2017. The Coquitlam, B.C. product has spent his entire professional career to date on the Island, without so much as a single AHL game under his belt; he won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie in 2018 after scoring 85 points in 82 games with the Islanders.

In 611 career NHL games over parts of 10 seasons on Long Island, Barzal has collected 153 goals, 534 points, and 313 penalty minutes. He’s added 17 goals and 45 points in 60 career playoff contests.