ELMONT, NY — New York Islanders defenseman Alex Romanov needs surgery on his right shoulder and will miss five to six months, the team confirmed on Sunday before their tilt against the Seattle Kraken at UBS Arena.
Romanov suffered the injury in the final minute of Tuesday’s 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars when he was dangerously hit into the boards from behind by forward Mikko Rantanen.
“He’s not happy,” head coach Patrick Roy said of Romanov. “We didn’t have the same opinion as the league [on how they viewed the hit] when that happened. But we have to move on. You don’t replace a player like him. You hope the guys coming in will fit in.”
While Rantanen escaped any punishment from player safety, he was suspended for one game after another vicious boarding penalty on Calgary Flames forward Matt Coronato on Saturday night — the second time in three games he delivered a menacing hit.
With this timetable, Romanov will be able to return at the end of the regular season, and that is the best-case scenario.
“When the play happened, I didn’t have the perfect view, but when I saw him going down, I thought he had a lot more serious injury,” Roy said. “I mean, it’s a serious one because his season is over. But I thought it was a broken neck or something like this.”
In Romanov’s absence, veteran blue liner Adam Boqvist will draw into the lineup. He has already appeared in eight games this season.
“Hopefully [Boqvist] will play like he’s been playing,” Roy said. “It’s an opportunity for him, and he needs to take advantage of it.”
********
Just minutes before face-off on Sunday, the Islanders revealed that veteran center Jean-Gabriel Pageau is out on a “week-to-week” basis due to an upper-body injury.
It is unclear when the 33-year-old suffered the injury. He played 15:58 during Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues without incident, it appeared.
Pageau has six goals and six assists in 22 games this season, continuing to serve as an invaluable face-off man and penalty-killer.
Roy moved rookie center Calum Ritchie up from the fourth line to Pageau’s spot on the third, moved Casey Cizikas from wing to center, and called on Max Tsyplakov to round out that last line.
For more on the Islanders, visit AMNY.com
