NY Islanders’ Defenseman Scott Mayfield Undergoes Successful Season Ending Surgery

The NY Islanders announced today that defenseman Scott Mayfield has undergone successful surgery and will be out for the remainder of the season.

The 31-year-old defenseman was placed on LTIR on March 5, playing in his final game of the season on Feb. 22 in a 4-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues at the Enterprise Center.

“We're going to shut him right down until he gets completely healthy," Lou Lamoriello said earlier this month. Today we learned that day won’t come until the 2024-25 season.

This was Mayfield’s second stint on injured reserve this season, with the first being back on Dec 14 after another lower-body injury suffered on Dec 11 against the Toronto Maple Leafs forced him to miss eight games. 

In the Islanders’ first game of the season against the Buffalo Sabres, Mayfield blocked a shot off the stick of Rasmus Dahlin in the game's waning moments. Mayfield’s ankle took the brunt of the shot and never seemed to fully recover. 

After signing a 7-year extension in the off-season with a $3M annual cap hit, Mayfield was at the forefront of fans’ frustration regarding the direction this season has gone. The hope is that his poor run of play was due to playing essentially the entire season injured and not a massive regression in his game which the organization would have to endure for the next six seasons.

"Scott is a big presence here, and has been for a long time," Ryan Pulock said after losing Mayfield to LTIR. "All the things he does on the PK and in different areas of the game, it's hard to copy that, but it's an opportunity for other guys to step in and play different roles and prove that they can have different responsibilities throughout the game."

Mayfield finishes his 2023-24 season playing in 41 games, failing to record a goal and contributing five assists.