Four veterans who missed big chunks of last season are healthy again, and that's the pitch as Islanders camp approaches. The plan is simple: get the injured guys back on the ice and hope the rest sorts itself out.
At a September 2 media availability, GM Mathieu Darche confirmed that Semyon Varlamov, Kyle Palmieri, Pierre Engvall and Alexander Romanov are all expected to be full participants when camp opens. Every one of those returns is genuinely encouraging. But lean on it as your route back to the postseason and you're betting the season on the least controllable thing in the sport: bodies staying intact.
The comeback stories are real, and they're fragile
Start with the headliner. Varlamov, 38, hasn't played an NHL game since November 29, 2024. Two knee surgeries and months of rehab later, Darche's update was glowing: "He's doing great, actually. It's almost a miracle," he said, before correcting himself. "Well, it's not a miracle because he's really put in the work. He's been back here for at least a month. He's on the ice four to five times a week, no medication, no pain." Darche expects him to play preseason games and "give us a lot of games this year."
Good, root for it. But a 38-year-old goalie coming off two knee operations and the better part of two years away isn't a plan you build around. It's a hope you keep your fingers crossed for.
Palmieri, 35, tore his right ACL against the Flyers on November 28 and finished the year with 18 points in just 25 games. Darche says he's "been skating all summer." Engvall missed the entire season after offseason hip surgery and then ankle surgery in the fall; he last played an NHL game in April 2025. Romanov, 26, played 15 games before season-ending shoulder surgery from a boarding hit by Mikko Rantanen, and Darche says he's back three weeks, 12 pounds lighter, and "as good as I've seen him."
Four comeback stories, four question marks. That's the ceiling and the floor of this roster.
The math on why this is a stretch
Health wasn't the only thing wrong last season. The Islanders finished 43-33-5, got eliminated with a 4-1 loss to Montreal at UBS Arena, and landed on the wrong side of the playoff line in the Metropolitan for a second straight spring. They sat a point up on Pittsburgh for second in the division on March 28, then went 1-6-0 down the stretch and watched it all evaporate.
They lost 363 man-games to injury, the fifth-most in the league. That's a real excuse. But the power play was one of the worst in the NHL, and the offense didn't take the step you'd want from a team that drafted Matthew Schaefer first overall. Those aren't injuries, those are structural problems, and getting Palmieri and Varlamov back doesn't fix a power play that ranked near the bottom of the league.
The Islanders finished several points out of a playoff spot with a version of this roster already on the ice. Getting the injured guys back helps. It doesn't erase two springs of no playoff hockey by itself.
A quiet summer to answer a loud problem
The summer was quiet. Beyond signing goalie Vitek Vanecek to a one-year deal and adding forward Matias Maccelli, the roster barely moved. Vanecek gives them three goaltenders with real NHL experience at camp, which matters after Darche admitted "we kind of overused Ilya" down the stretch. Ilya Sorokin carried the crease all year and posted an NHL-high seven shutouts doing it. Depth in net is a smart, tangible fix.
Everywhere else, the message is simple: trust the returns. Peter DeBoer, who took over with four games left after Patrick Roy was fired, walks into his first full season on Long Island with essentially the same group, minus the injuries. That's the whole strategy.
Maybe it works. If all four veterans stay healthy, the Islanders are a better team than the one that missed the cut, and a return to the postseason is on the table. That's a fair read, and even the optimistic coverage frames it that way. The operative word in every version of the argument is "if."
My take: banking a season on 30-something bodies and one 26-year-old rebuilt shoulder holding up over 82 games isn't a plan so much as a wish. The Islanders had a chance this summer to add certainty. Instead they doubled down on comeback stories. They open the season September 30 against Toronto. We'll find out fast whether the medical bay was the fix, or just the excuse.
