Two more Islanders players added to COVID protocol

COVID keeps doing its thing around the NHL. Officially there are over 100 players out on the NHL's COVID protocol list. Before today's game against the Vegas Golden Knights, the New York Islanders only had one player on the protocol list; Mathew Barzal. Now add two more players to the list.

Before puck drop, we found out two more players were added to the COVID list. Both Matt Martin and rookie Robin Salo were placed on the list.

New York Islanders place two more players in COVID protocol

Matt Martin has been in and out of the lineup with a nagging injury that's plagued him this season. The fourth line has found it tough this year, but in the most recent outing, they looked much better and closer to their regular selves.

When the trio of Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck is together they just seem to hit a different gear. When any of them are out things just tend to fall apart. But with Ross Johnston stepping in for Martin, the Isles have perhaps the best replacement for Martin in the NHL.

For Robin Salo, he's played seven games this year and collected his first NHL point in the win against Boston at home. Today should have been a chance for him to build off of that. Of course, he'll have to wait for that.

Stepping into his spot is Sebastian Aho. Salo outplayed Aho in order to get into the lineup, but Aho is a good replacement in terms of skillset. Both are left-shot offense first defensemen. Both get reduced 5on5 time but a ton of power play time. Whomever is in quarterbacks the second power play unit.

So now the list of players on the COVID list jumps to three. Ideally, this doesn't start spiraling and the team ends up with more bodies out for COVID (again).