Islanders pre-game presser full of (good) positives

The New York Islanders have had their unfair share of positives lately. Yes, I'm making a COVID protocol-based pun here. But today's pre-game press conference was full of actual positive news.

Mainly, Josh Bailey has not only rejoined the team in New York, but he was on the ice for the pre-game skate with his teammates. Bailey was the first of eight guys that made their way to the COVID protocol list for the Isles. (I'm including Anthony Beauvilier in that eight).

Getting him back (likely for Sunday's game, not today's) is a huge boost to the Islanders top six. And at this point, Islanders fans will take any win they can get. But it didn't stop there. More good news came from this pre-game presser.

Good news from New York Islanders pre-game presser

Noah Dobson, who missed Wednesday's game against the Rangers as "day-to-day" is also back. I know he hasn't exactly been the best player for the Islanders this year, but he's an NHL-caliber defenseman that should be much better than we've seen from him so far.

Getting Dobson back gives the Isles two regular NHLers on the back end. Against the Rangers, they only had Scott Mayfield who was surrounded by a bunch of AHL'ers.

All eyes turn to the Islanders roster to see who steps out to make way for Dobson. My guess is that Paul LaDue heads back to the AHL with Dobson getting back into the lineup.

The last little bit of good news is that no other names were added to the list. In fact, Barry Trotz indicated that some players were close to a return from the COVID protocol list.

And obviously, none of this is as good as an actual win on the ice, but with there the Islanders are right now (sporting a seven game losing streak) the team and fans have to take any win no matter how small. These are all small wins and steps a healthier direction.