Islanders Injury Update: Thomas Hickey gets skate to head

During the Bridgeport Islanders 6-4 win over the Providence Bruins on Saturday, New York Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey left the game and it wasn’t too clear why.

A day later, after the B-Islanders lost 5-1 to the Hartford Wolf Pack, head coach Brent Thompson indicated why Hickey left and was not on the ice for the loss to Wolf Pack; he took a skate to the head.

New York Islanders Thomas Hickey Injury Update

Before I go any further, Hickey is ok. He only sustained a cut on the play. But, as Thompson said, it could have been so much worse than it actually was.

We aren’t sure how long Thomas Hickey will be out, but it’s just a cut so perhaps it won’t be that long. Hickey’s played three games of Bridgeport eight games this season. Keep in mind the AHL is a development league where the number of veterans allowed on the ice at the same time is limited.

AHL teams can only ice five vets with 320+ pro-games. Bridgeport has seven players that match that criteria: Leo Komarov, Thomas Hickey, Anatolii Golyshev, Richard Panik, Andy Andreoff, Chris Terry, and Seth Helgeson. They can’t all be in the lineup at the same time. Which is why Hickey isn’t consistently in the lineup.

Hickey isn’t in the Islanders plans. You’d have to think that after the initial six NHL-defensemen, the depth chart is followed by: Aho, Salo, and then perhaps Hickey. So this won’t impact the team but the takeaway here is the skate laceration.

Over the last few seasons, the Isles have had a number of lacerations: Cal Clutterbuck‘s wrist, Johnny Boychuk‘s eye, Casey Cizikas‘s leg. And that’s just the Islanders. Lacerations have been a real issue. Sorting that issue out will be nearly impossible thanks to the incredibly sharp skates needed to play the game.