There's no rush to make a public, official decision on Anthony Duclair.
There's no rush to make a public, official decision on Anthony Duclair.
The New York Islanders have yet to make a decision regarding the injured Anthony Duclair.
The 29-year-old suffered what appeared to be a non-contact lower-body injury at the 3:19 mark of their 4-3 shooting win against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
After Sunday's off-day, we chatted with Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello, who said the team was waiting for more test results.
“We won’t know until the next 24 hours or so just how serious the injury will be,” Lamoriello said. “It will be more long-term than short-term at this point. It certainly is not season-ending or anything. But the time frame, we just have to get more results from the x-rays and MRIs.”
Then on Tuesday, in a 1-on-1 with MSG Network's Shannon Hogan, Lamoriello said the club needed some more time.
"We will have news over the next 48 hours."
With the off-day Wednesday, news should be coming soon.
But, knowing that Duclair will be out long-term, why haven't the Islanders just placed him on long-term injured reserve (LTIR)?
It's a great question.
With injuries, players can be placed on Injured Reserve (IR) or LTIR, retroactively.
What this means is that the Islanders can place Ducalir on LTIR, retroactive to Oct. 19.
But there are rules:
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Right now, the Islanders have $248,935 in available cap space and are projected to have $1.04 million in deadline space, per Puckpedia.com.
While the Duclair decision certainly impacts cap accrual, it's not a substancial enough amount for why they Islanders haven't made a decision.
Sure, the more days that go by the more pennies that are added to the piggy bank but if they do retractive him, they'd lose whatever accrual they've obtained since Oct. 19.
On the flip side, if Duclair is going to be out way longer than 10 games and 24 days, there's no need to go the retroactive route. They might as well keep accruing cap space.
In the past, we've seen Lamoriello decide to not place players out long-term on LTIR, like when Oliver Wahlstrom tore his ACL, likely because of the cap accrual rules.
But in this situation, with the Islanders already cap-strapped, fielding a roster of 22 instead of the max of 23 because of that, opening up a roster spot and an additional $3.5 million in cap space would likely be beneficial.
That's not to say that the answer to the top-line hole sits in Bridgeport, but then the Islanders can recall a player like Pierre Engvall ($1.15 million needed).
Contrary to popular belief, Engvall has NHL skills and can help the Islanders transition game.
What likely happens is the 28-year-old, who is in the second year of a seven-year deal worth $3 million, gets recalled following Duclair to LTIR, joining Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau on the third line, with Casey Cizikas going to the top line like we saw down the stretch last year and in the playoffs.
That's if head coach Patrick Roy doesn't see enough from Simon Holmstrom, who got the first crack with Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal.
If Roy wants to make that change, one would expect Holmstrom to move to the fourth line, with Kyle MacLean and Oliver Wahlstrom or Liam Foudy.
Figuring all these roster and cap moves out are certainly playing a part in why we haven't received an update on Duclair since Monday.