Barry Trotz gives update on Islanders injured/ill players

Part of the issue with the New York Islanders through this losing spell hasn't only been the sheer volume of players going on COVID protocol, but the injuries as well.

At one point, there were eight players on the Islanders COVID list. Adding to the Isles misery were the two players that picked up injuries during that awful stretch of games. Ryan Pulock picked up a lower body injury and was ruled out for 4-6 weeks while Brock Nelson was ruled out for 2-4 weeks.

So where are we at with these players on the COVID list and those who are injured? With the Isles in Ottawa, Barry Trotz gave us all an update on where these guys are.

New York Islanders illness/injury update

First, what did he say on the two guys who were injured? Again, Brock Nelson went down on November 23rd, that's two weeks ago today. So what's the status update on the Isles center?

According to coach Trotz, Brock Nelson won't be back for a while. He's skating once again, but it's going to probably take the full four weeks before he returns. Which, of course is a massive loss considering how poor the Islanders are at scoring goals.

Nelson, who has missed five games now still leads the team in scoring with nine goals on the year. Oliver Wahlstrom is second with seven. That's how badly the team needs goal scorers

Ryan Pulock was given a 4-6 week time frame before he'd come back. Today, Trotz said he was not skating yet. Which fits with the timeline. Consider he's only been out since November 18, that's just 19 days ago. That's less than halfway through the 42 day timeline.

Finally what about the COVID protocol list? The only name left on the list is Casey Cizikas. He didn't travel with the club to Canada, which makes a lot of sense considering the nature of his absence, but he isn't back on the ice yet either. Again, make sense considering his COVID diagnosis.