Islanders’ Ryan Pulock leaves game with upper-body injury

The New York Islanders announced that defenseman Ryan Pulock will not return to Thursday’s game against the Minnesota Wild due to an upper-body injury.

Pulock sustained the injury early in the first period of the game, only playing in two shifts before he exited the match. It’s unclear what exactly caused the injury, but the most likely incident was when he was battling along the boards with Yakov Trenin, as he skated gingerly after the fact. He went to the dressing room after and did not return, with the team confirming his absence at the start of the second period.

Pulock played just 51 seconds of ice time in those two shifts, with only a hit taken on his stat line before exiting the game. The Islanders were already down 1-0 at the time of his early departure.

There’s currently no other updates on Pulock, including the severity of the injury and how much time he’s expected to miss. Islanders head coach Pete DeBoer might give an update after the game, but since the Isles are at the end of a three-game road trip before returning home, it’s likely that a more specific update isn’t provided until a practice or morning skate on Long Island.

One big concern from Pulock’s injury is that he had shoulder surgery in the offseason, so an upper-body injury could mean that he re-injured the shoulder. However, the Islanders have not confirmed that is the case.

Pulock was off to slow start to the season, as he had just one assist in 13 games before the injury. That along with poor defensive play with a +0.28 5v5 expected goals against per 60 relative to his teammates (via Natural Stat Trick) is a continuation of a few consecutive seasons now of lackluster play from a former high-end blueliner.

With Pulock out, his pairmate Adam Pelech has mostly split his ice time with Matthew Schaefer and Logan Stanley, although he also played a bit with Tony DeAngelo. Should Pulock miss any more time, Matthew Kessel is the team’s only extra defenseman on their roster.

Pulock joins a growing list of injuries on the Islanders roster, as Mathew Barzal, Matias Maccelli, Calum Ritchie and Alexander Romanov are all already on the injured reserve list.