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Why The Islanders Placed Matias Maccelli & Cal Ritchie On Injured Reserve & Paper Recalled Kashawn Aitcheson & Pierre Engvall

Oct 26, 2026 7:33 PMPublished Oct 26, 2026 7:33 PM

Matias Maccelli and Cal Ritchie hit the shelf as roster holes widen for New York. With no immediate replacements called up, the shorthanded squad faces a looming depth crisis.

NASHVILLE, TN -- The New York Islanders made a few roster transactions on Monday.
They placed injured forwards Matias Maccelli and Cal Ritchie on Injured Reserve, retroactive to Oct. 17, before recalling forward Pierre Engvall and defenseman Kashawn Aitcheson.

The question is why?

Placing Maccelli and Ritchie on IR doesn't take their cap hits off the books; it just opens up roster spots.
Both Aitcheson and Engvall moves are paper transactions; they will not play and will be sent down tomorrow.
The Islanders made these moves to maximize their potential LTIR relief and performance-bonus pool by increasing their roster's cap hit.
When a team establishes its LTIR relief pool, the closer it is to the salary-cap ceiling, the more relief the team can get.
Aitcheson's $500,000 performance bonus plays a role here, as, under the NHL's LTIR rules, potential bonuses can affect a team's LTIR performance-bonus pool, even if Aitcheson never earns them, which he won't.
By recalling Aitcheson, the Islanders temporarily add his contract and potential bonuses to their NHL roster calculations, which can help manage their LTIR performance-bonus pool if the Islanders need LTIR relief.
Same with Engvall, whose full $3 million enter the books ($1.225 million added to cap hit)
The Islanders are still accruing cap space because they remain below the salary-cap ceiling. Even if they were to place Alexander Romanov on LTIR ($3.9 million in potential relief if and when), they could continue accruing as long as they don't use that relief to exceed the ceiling.
Placing Romanov on LTIR wouldn't automatically stop the Islanders from accruing cap space. Accrual would stop if they began using LTIR relief to operate above the salary-cap ceiling.
Every day the Islanders operate below the cap ceiling, they bank additional cap space, which gives Darche more financial flexibility to acquire a player.
The more cap space the Islanders accumulate now, the more flexibility they'll have to acquire a player later in the season, especially at the trade deadline.