Andrew Gross: Islanders GM Mathieu Darche explains Mathew Barzal's injury situation, not ruling star out for opener
Islanders center Mathew Barzal at UBS Arena last April. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Inspiration intersected with disappointment as the Islanders opened training camp on Thursday.
Because as much as anybody wants to discuss power play improvement or how quickly coach Pete DeBoer can implement his system, the real same old story in determining the Islanders’ fate this season is how healthy they can remain.
Mathew Barzal was absent, being kept off the ice for two weeks with inflammation in his left knee stemming from an injury in 2024-25, though general manager Mathieu Darche is not ruling out the top-six forward being available for the season opener on Sept. 30 in Toronto.
“He’s really disappointed for missing camp,” DeBoer said. “Really disappointed. You feel for him. No one wanted to be a part of this more than him on the first day of camp. We all know what he’s gone through in his injury journey. He’s disappointed but he understands, like we do, you’ve got to do the smart thing sometimes for the big picture.”
That was the bad.
The good was Kyle Palmieri (ACL), Pierre Engvall (hip/ankle) and defensemen Alexander Romanov (shoulder) and Ryan Pulock (shoulder) all skating without issue. Engvall missed all of last season, Palmieri and Romanov both suffered their season-ending injuries in November.
But it was goalie Semyon Varlamov, who has not played in an NHL game since Nov. 29, 2024, that drew the most attention for being back on the ice at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow as he continues his remarkable comeback attempt from two partial knee replacement surgeries.
“It’s very special,” goalie Ilya Sorokin said of his fellow Russian netminder. “Some would say it’s magic but it’s not magic. It’s his professionalism. He worked hard the last one and half years. Every day.”
“The work that Varly has put in is really impressive,” Darche said. “Honestly, it’s almost inspiring to our guys. He could have rode into the sunset, just collect the last two years of his contract and, hey, he’s had a great career.”
Varlamov tested his knees — and his resolve to continue the comeback — in two AHL games late last season, including one in the playoffs.
The Islanders need strong play from their backup to Sorokin for 25-30 games in this 84-game season. If it’s not Varlamov it will be well-traveled Vitek Vanecek.
“It’s a long process I had to go through physically and mentally, there were a lot of ups and downs, a lot of setbacks,” said Varlamov, 38, entering the final season of a four-year, $11 million deal. “I’m finally feeling good and feeling 100% on the first day of training camp.
“It was very important for me to play at the end of last season. I wanted to play and test myself and see how my knees were going to react during a real game. I felt like I had to play no matter how I felt at the end of last season. It was a big test for me. I feel like if I didn’t play those two games there’s no chance the team would give me a chance to be a part of this training camp.”
DeBoer said when he was hired with four games remaining last season, “I was not counting on seeing [Varlamov] at all. I didn’t want to get excited about seeing him back because it’s such a significant injury. But I started to get more excited in the summer.”
Darche confirmed Barzal’s inflammation is part of the left kneecap injury he suffered blocking a shot on Feb. 1, 2025, which required surgery. Barzal played 81 games last season — missing one game for team disciplinary reasons — and compiled 19 goals and 53 assists.
“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. It’s nothing new. It’s just something we have to control.
“We said two weeks. Could we say 12 days? 13 days? 10 days? He still has a chance for opening night.”
Barzal, 29, is entering the fourth season of an eight-year, $73.2 million deal.
“We’re just playing the long game here,” Darche said. “We’ll have to manage it all the time because he did have an injury in his knee. There’s a lot of players that manage stuff every day. After the physical yesterday, meeting with the doctor, with Mathew, with his agent, we [said], ‘Let’s make sure we control that inflammation,’ and hopefully he’ll be good to go.”
But that’s the fragile nature of sports, right?
The Islanders can hope Barzal recovers quickly. They can hope all of Varlamov’s hard work pays off with a return to the NHL.
Inspiration and disappointment all in the same day.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
