Stefen Rosner on Morning Cuppa Hockey Talking Islanders EAST MEADOW, NY -- The New York Islanders [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-islanders/] announced during Monday's practice that forward Anthony Duclair will be out four-to-six weeks with a lower-body injury. The 29-year-old suffered a non-contact injury at the 3:19 mark of their 4-3 shooting win against the Montreal Canadiens [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/] on Saturday night. "When you see a guy on the ice having to get helped off, you never know these days the severity," Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson said. "There are tons of injuries that can happen, but yeah, to know he's out for an extended period of time, but it's not like season-ending or months at a time is a positive. He's a big part of our team, so I know he's going to do whatever he can to get back as soon as possible." Although not as long as initially expected, 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 retroactively to Oct. 19. But there are rules: * undefined * undefined According to Puckpedia.com, the Islanders currently have $248,935 in available cap space and are projected to have $1.04 million in deadline space. While the Duclair decision certainly impacts cap accrual, it's not substantial enough to explain why the Islanders haven't made a decision. Sure, the more days that go by, the more pennies are added to the piggy bank, but if they retract him, they will lose whatever accrual they've obtained since Oct. 19. On the other hand, if Duclair is going to be out for much 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 not to 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. "I'm all good," Roy said about only carrying 12 forwards. "No problem with that. It actually never crossed my mind, to be honest. I'm comfortable with the guys we have. And I like our lineup." Holmstrom may not be the answer to the top-line hole, nor may the answer sit in Bridgeport, but then the Islanders can recall a player like Pierre Engvall ($1.15 million needed) if Duclair eventually ends up on LTIR. 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 as 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 and will do so again on Friday night against the New Jersey Devils. 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. TOP STORIES
