Kyle Palmieri has yet to be seen in training camp and it will not be clear whether he will likely be on the ice when the Islanders open the regular season on Oct. 14 against the Sabres.
“It’s hard to say,” coach Lane Lambert said of Palmieri’s status for the opener. “I don’t know that I could answer that query today. He’s skating. And so he’s day-to-day immediately and we’ll just wait to see what happens.”
The Islanders, who scored a 2-1 preseason win over the Sabres, have called Palmieri day-to-day for the reason that start of camp, after they said his absence was as a result of a knock suffered during a casual, pre-camp skate.
The day-to-day designation, though, is comparatively meaningless given the Islanders used it last yr for injuries wherein players were out for weeks at a time.
Lambert on Wednesday declined to say whether Palmieri is coping with an upper- or lower-body injury.
Palmieri missed 27 games last season with what was presumed to be concussions, as he took successful from Morgan Reilly on Nov. 21, then one other from Nick Ritchie upon his Dec. 16 return to the lineup.
He has not played a full season since being traded to the Islanders, missing 13 games in 2021-22 as well.
Being without Palmieri, who scored 16 goals with 17 assists last season, can be an early blow to a team that doesn’t have much offensive firepower to start with.
The second line of Pierre Engvall, Brock Nelson and Palmieri was the Isles’ best towards the top of last season.
There may be loads of time between now and opening night. But the shortage of definitive answer will not be a very good sign.
Alexander Romanov (shoulder surgery) was held out of the Islanders’ first two preseason games, but has been a full participant in intrasquad scrimmages during camp.
Lambert left it an open query as as to whether Romanov will play on Friday at home against the Rangers, but said, “he’s moving into that area where he might be getting close.”
Romanov, for his part, seems ready and desperate to get going.
“No issues, no pain,” he said Tuesday. “The whole lot’s good.”
Isaiah George (maintenance) didn’t practice Wednesday. He returned to Tuesday’s game after missing a piece of the primary period following an enormous hit courtesy of Rangers forward Matt Rempe.
Sebastian Aho skated to Ryan Pulock’s left — where George has been for many of camp — throughout the scrimmage. (Adam Pelech, Pulock’s usual partner on the highest pair, played within the preseason match against the Flyers).
In his first game motion following a knee injury that took him out of the last 4 months of last season, Oliver Wahlstrom skated for 17:20 against the Flyers, the lone snag being a boarding penalty, which he called a timing misjudgment on his part.
“I felt great,” Wahlstrom said. “Obviously towards the top, the lungs, you only gotta keep playing more games. But I couldn’t have put in a greater nine months in my life. It prepared me rather well for this preseason.”
