Islanders Add Barry Trotz and Ryan Pulock to COVID Protocol

Well, the New York Islanders just can't catch a break. They haven't played a game in 10 days, their next scheduled game is against an opponent who has their own COVID issues, and now, today, two more players were added to the protocol list for the team.

Add Barry Trotz and Ryan Pulock to the list for New York:

For Barry, he just recently returned to the team due to personal reasons. He wasn't behind the bench for their game against Edmonton and now likely will miss the next two games for New York on Thursday (if they play) and Saturday against his former team, the Washington Capitals.

As for Ryan Pulock, he is still out with an injury. It's been eight weeks since he last played, which was longer than the original timeline for the recovery, but he has been skating with the team and slowly working his way back.

Like Trotz, Pulock will likely have to stay away from the team for a bit and then return to continue his recovery process.

It just feels like it never ends for this team. After having a two week break, their third COVID stoppage, they lose their head coach (who just came back) and their top pair defenseman who is trying to heal and get back on the ice.

Anyway, for now, that's it for Islanders in COVID protocol. We'll see if the team is able to play on Thursday against New Jersey but if you thought this team's COVID issues were in the rearview mirror, boy were you mistaken.

As expected, Lane Lambert who is Barry Trotz's right hand man, will run the bench during Trotz's absence.