The Tampa Bay Lightning aren’t the only Eastern Conference team hurting on the injury front.
The New York Islanders are currently without defenceman Travis Hamonic, who is day-to-day with a knee injury, while starting goaltender Jaroslav Halak hasn’t played since Mar. 8 with a groin injury and forward Mikhail Grabovski has played one game since Feb. 19 with an upper-body injury.
The team suffered another hit when forward Anders Lee fractured his leg earlier this week when he was hit by a slap shot from teammate Johnny Boychuk.
He isn’t expected to suit up in the post-season and according to Sportsnet’s Damien Cox, the Islanders could look to the junior ranks to help boost the NHL roster for the playoffs.
“They have two first-round picks. Michael Dal Colle of Kingston and Josh Ho-Sang of Niagara,” Cox said Saturday during the Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada. “They’re actually playing each other in a playoff series and one could be available later this week.”
Dal Colle, 19, was the selected by the Islanders with the fifth overall pick of the 2014 NHL Draft. The 6-foot-2 winger scored 27 goals and 28 assists with a plus-30 rating in 30 games with the Kingston Frontenacs during the regular season before adding six goals and 12 assists in seven playoff games.
Ho-Sang, 20, scored 19 goals with 63 asssists in 66 regular-season games with the Niagara Ice Dogs in the regular season and has two goals and 12 assists in seven post-season games. The 6-foot winger was selected 28th overall in the 2014 NHL Draft.
The Islanders have one game remaining on their schedule after Saturday and will play either the Pittsburgh Penguins or Florida Panthers in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
