{"id":314865,"date":"2026-04-07T17:05:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=314865"},"modified":"2026-04-07T17:05:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:35:23","slug":"key-defenseman-targeting-return-from-shoulder-injury-before-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/07\/key-defenseman-targeting-return-from-shoulder-injury-before-playoffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Key defenseman targeting return from shoulder injury before playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"article-3759742\">\n<p>Latest York Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov could <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/news\/nhl-status-report-news-and-notes-april-6-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rejoin the lineup<\/a> before the conclusion of the regular season, general manager Mathieu Darche said on Monday. The 26-year-old has been out since November 18, 2025, after sustaining a shoulder injury in a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars following a late-period hit from Mikko Rantanen. The injury required surgery, causing him to miss the last 58 games.<\/p>\n<p>After skating in a non-contact jersey for previous sessions, Romanov will participate in full-contact practices for the primary time this week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere&#8217;s potentially a probability for the last game or two of the season that he could be back,\u201d said Darche. \u201cThis week is the primary week he&#8217;ll do full practice with contact, so sometimes it takes just a little while also to get back at it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Over 15 appearances this season, Romanov has recorded one assist, 17 shots on goal, 31 blocked shots, and 31 hits.<\/p>\n<p>Latest York plays 4 remaining regular-season games, starting Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Newly hired head coach Peter DeBoer rotated defensive pairs throughout Monday&#8217;s practice, while top forwards Anders Lee, Bo Horvat, and Anthony Duclair led the primary line. Price mentioning, Semyon Varlamov took part in a full practice for the primary time since undergoing bilateral knee replacements in November 2024, although he won&#8217;t return this season.<\/p>\n<p>Darche also mentioned the potential call-up of AHL Bridgeport&#8217;s Victor Eklund, who has six points in 4 games since arriving from Sweden. With the Islanders needing victories within the closing games to secure a playoff spot, Romanov&#8217;s timely return could provide a much-needed boost to the team&#8217;s defensive depth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Latest York Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov could rejoin the lineup before the conclusion of the regular season, general manager Mathieu Darche said on Monday.  The 26-year-old has been out since November 18, 2025, after sustaining a shoulder injury in a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars following a late-period hit from Mikko Rantanen.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Latest York Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov could rejoin the lineup before the conclusion of the regular season, general manager Mathieu Darche said on Monday. The 26-year-old has been out since November 18, 2025, after sustaining a shoulder injury in a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars following a late-period hit from Mikko Rantanen. The injury [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":314866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[10592,667,1859,2751,1161,17926,7477],"class_list":["post-314865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-defenseman","tag-injury","tag-key","tag-playoffs","tag-return","tag-shoulder","tag-targeting"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314865"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314868,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314865\/revisions\/314868"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}