NY Islanders' forward Pierre Engvall will miss the entire 2025-26 season

The 2025-26 season is over before it even began for NY Islanders' forward Pierre Engvall, as Mathieu Darche announced this morning that he'd be out for the season after undergoing ankle surgery.

This was the second surgery of the off-season for Engvall, who recently underwent hip surgery. Expected to miss a few weeks while recovering from the hip, it was expected he'd be back to skating soon, as the second surgery has come as a bit of a surprise, but Darche revealed that it was a lingering issue that flared up, figuring it was better to resolve the issue rather than have Engvall not playing at 100%.

Engvall out for the season

Acquired before the trade deadline in 2023, Engvall has had an up-and-down career since joining the Islanders. Awarded with a seven-year extension in the summer of 2023, Engvall has struggled to live up to his end of the deal.

The 29-year-old Swede was placed on waivers after training camp last season, but was quickly recalled after the Isles had some early-season injury struggles. Engvall went on to play 62 games, scoring eight times and adding seven assists.

Head Coach Patrick Roy has been vocal about Engvall's play, wanting the 6'5" forward to stop playing around the perimeter and crash the net more. In games that Engvall looked like one of the best players on the ice last season, that's exactly what he did, but he has struggled to remain consistent.

Once moved to LTIR, the Islanders will gain another $3M in cap space.

The Islanders are locked into Engvall for four more seasons, as he could soon become a likely candidate for a buyout.