The Islanders did not wait long to plug their newest hole on the blue line.
They acquired lefty defenseman Scott Perunovich from the Blues on Monday, sending back a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2026 draft as a quick fix following Ryan Pulock’s upper-body injury on Saturday night.
Pulock and goaltender Marcus Hogberg (upper body) were both placed on injured reserve Monday with indefinite timetables.
Pulock went down on the first shift of Saturday’s 3-2 win over the Hurricanes, getting hurt on Jackson Blake’s slew foot that went uncalled.
“I hope it was an accident,” coach Patrick Roy said Monday, “because I didn’t like it at all. When I watched it on the replay, I didn’t like that slew foot. I would’ve loved to see the league looking at it, because these are dangerous plays.”
The 26-year-old Perunovich won the Hobey Baker Award in 2020 as the best player in college hockey while at Minnesota-Duluth, but was never able to translate his skill set into a consistent role with the Blues.
In five seasons with the organization, he never played more than 54 NHL games. In 24 games this season, Perunovich has two goals and four assists with 14:37 average time on ice.
The Hibbing, Minn., native is seen as a defenseman with a solid offensive skill set and can move the puck well.
Most pressing for the Islanders’ cause, he is an available body who can play on the left or right side.
After Tony DeAngelo’s addition followed Noah Dobson’s injury last week, it’s clear the Islanders have no interest in making Isaiah George and Dennis Cholowski their third pair over the long term.
And, in the case of both Dobson and Pulock, the additions following each player’s respective injuries are a blaring sign that neither is expected back for the foreseeable future.
Also like DeAngelo, the addition of Perunovich is a sign that general manager Lou Lamoriello is taking his team’s recent performance — with wins in seven of their past nine — as a green light to double down on his belief that the Islanders can make some kind of run.
Despite the standings situation being far from favorable — the Islanders woke up Monday six points behind the Lightning for the last wild-card spot in the East and needing to pass the Flyers, Red Wings, Rangers, Canadiens and Blue Jackets to get there — it looks at least for the time being as though Lamoriello is holding true to his statement earlier this month that he has not yet thought about being a trade deadline seller.
If the Islanders continue to play well, there is no reason to believe that will change.
On Monday afternoon, Perunovich was listed with No. 48 for the Islanders on the NHL media site. He will be eligible to play in Tuesday’s home match against the Avalanche, with the Islanders attempting to win a fifth straight game for the first time since last April.
To spell Hogberg as the backup netminder, the Islanders also called up Jakub Skarek on an emergency basis.
Skarek, a third-round pick in 2018, has yet to make his NHL debut and has an .895 save percentage at AHL Bridgeport this season.
It is seen as unlikely that the Islanders would trust Skarek — who has never had an AHL save percentage above .900 in six seasons — with NHL games over Ilya Sorokin unless the situation were dire.
With Semyon Varlamov (lower body) still yet to rejoin the team for practice, that could put the Islanders in the market for a backup netminder as well, if neither Varlamov nor Hogberg are expected back soon.
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