Islanders lose young talented defenseman for 6 to 8 months after awful injury
Photo credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov needs ACL surgery and will miss six to eight months, another brutal setback after last season's shoulder injury.
The New York Islanders just got the kind of news nobody wanted to hear.
Defenseman Alex Romanov tore the ACL in his right knee and will need surgery, the team announced Wednesday.
The recovery timeline is six to eight months.
He got hurt in the third period of Tuesday night's 5-2 loss to the Rangers and never returned.
The play along the boards with Mika Zibanejad looked innocent enough at first, which makes the diagnosis sting even more.
Coach Pete DeBoer sounded hopeful after the morning skate, but a visit to the doctor told a very different story.
Another long layoff for Romanov
This is brutal for a player who was only just getting back into the swing of things.
Romanov played 15 games last season before shoulder surgery ended his year, and he lasted three games this fall.
That's two major injuries in less than a year.
The 26-year-old signed an eight-year, $50 million contract in the summer of 2025, and so far the Islanders have seen very little of him on the ice.
He's carrying a $6.25 million cap hit.
What it means for the blue line
Romanov was playing on the left side of the second pairing next to Ryan Pulock, so that's a real hole to fill.
Scott Mayfield and Matthew Kessel look like the most likely names to get more work.
If everything goes perfectly, Romanov could be back around April, which means the final few games of the regular season at best.
A playoff return would be a stretch, and the Islanders will have to plan around him being gone for basically the whole year.
It's a rough run of luck for any player, and Islanders fans will be feeling for him.
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