New York Islanders

Pelech & Palmieri Return to Islanders Lineup, Bolduc Makes NHL Debut

Published

1 year ago

January 23, 2023

TORONTO — The New York Islanders have patiently waited for two big names to return from long-term injuries. On Monday night, ahead of their contest against the Maple Leafs, the Islanders activated elite defenseman Adam Pelech and key forward Kyle Palmieri off Injured Reserve.

To create the two roster spots needed, the Islanders have placed forward Hudson Fasching (lower-body) on Injured Reserve (retro 1/18) and have returned defenseman Dennis Cholowski to Bridgeport.

With the Islanders not running lines during their morning skate on Monday, we had to wait for warmups to find out who was in and out.

Following warmups, here’s how the Islanders lined up:

Anthony Beauvillier-Mathew Barzal-Casey Cizikas
Anders Lee-Brock Nelson-Kyle Palmieri
Zach Parise-Jean-Gabriel Pageau-Josh Bailey
Matt Martin-Aatu Räty-Simon Holmstrom

Adam Pelech-Ryan Pulock
Alexander Romanov-Scott Mayfield
Samuel Bolduc-Sebastian Aho

Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov

Adam Pelech had missed the last 21 games with an upper-body injury sustained against the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 6 in a 7-4 loss. He’s the glue that keeps this group together. Besides being the strongest defenseman on the roster, he is instrumental in the Islanders transition game, as offense has been hard to come by in his absence.

For Kyle Palmieri, he may not have been lighting the lamp at an alarming rate this season, with just six goals and three assists in 21 games, but he can snipe from distance and is a rather strong defensive forward.

He had missed the last 17 games and 27 of the previous 28 games.

Besides these two returning to the lineup, 22-year-old defenseman Samuel Bolduc makes his NHL debut in place of the banged-up Noah Dobson.