New York Islanders Recall Griffin Reinhart, Activate Michael Grabner

The New York Islanders may not have a game tonight, but general manager Garth Snow had himself a very busy day. Snow made four roster moves, as Isles beat writer Arthur Staple reports:

Both Lubomir Visnovsky and Johnny Boychuk‘s IR moves have been made retroactively to November 28th and 27th, respectively. Boychuk will be eligible to return for the Isles Saturday matinee game against the St. Louis Blues at the Coliseum, but Visnovsky will not be available to return until the team travels to Minnesota to take on the Wild next Tuesday night. 

The designation of these two players made room for the activation of Michael Grabner and the promotion of Griffin Reinhart, but I do not think that the moves have any correlation other than that. In my opinion, Reinhart has been activated as a precaution in case Travis Hamonic, who was injured in last night’s victory over the Ottawa Senators, is unable to play Thursday night in Ottawa. Grabner, a forward, will likely take the place of Cal Clutterbuck, who, like Hamonic, was injured against the Sens. Unlike Hamonic, Clutterbuck was unable to finish the game on Tuesday.  Hamonic and Clutterbuck are both listed as day-to-day.

Visnovsky and Boychuk have missed the Isles last two games, both Islanders wins, having their roles filled by Brian Strait and Matt Donovan.

Jack Capuano has been reluctant to change his lineup after wins during his entire tenure as Islanders coach, so I am lead to assume that Reinhart was not recalled to replace one of the Isles replacement d-men.

Grabner has yet to appear for the Islanders this season after undergoing sports hernia surgery in the off-season.

Reinhart played the first three games of the season for the Isles. In those three games he did not register a point.