Mathew Barzal Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
EAST MEADOW, NY — Opening night has not been ruled out just yet for New York Islanders star forward Mathew Barzal, Mathieu Darche admitted on the first day of training camp Thursday morning.
The team announced on Wednesday that the 29-year-old would be shut down from skating for two weeks while he deals with inflammation in the knee he injured two seasons ago.
“It’s something that we’ve been managing for over a year,” Darche said. “…Every now and then, there’s some inflammation. Just over the summer as he ramped up, there was a bit more inflammation. So we just want to make sure that we control it. So it’s nothing new; it’s just something we have to control.”
A two-week timetable from Wednesday meant that Barzal would be down until opening night, which is Sept. 30 in Toronto against the Maple Leafs.
“It could be a little bit before, too,” Darche said. “We just said two weeks, but this could be, we say, 12 days, 13 days… He still has a chance for opening night. Is it guaranteed he’s there opening night? No, it’s not. We’re playing the long game here to make sure that it doesn’t [worsen]… He had an injury in his knee, and that’s fine. There’s a lot of players that manage stuff every day throughout their career. That’s just something we’re going to manage.”
Barzal was not impacted by the injured knee last season. He played in 81 games and posted 19 goals and 53 assists for 72 points — one of the most successful seasons of his career. Under new head coach Pete DeBoer, the expectation is that he will return to center full-time after cycling between his natural position and the wings over the last few seasons.
Calum Ritchie, at just 21, is going to get a first look at centering the second line at training camp with Barzal down.
“It’s a young league, right? He’s 21,” Darche said. “The way he finished last year with close to a point a game in his last 15 games, he has the hockey IQ, and he’s actually come in in good shape… He’s going to get an opportunity.”
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