The Islanders’ roster shuffle continued apace Thursday.
Alexander Romanov (upper body) was moved to injured reserve to clear one roster spot, and a second was opened up once Marc Gatcomb cleared waivers at 2 p.m., along with cap space sufficient for two call-ups.
The Islanders ended up needing both, as winger Maxim Shabanov was deemed out for Thursday’s 7-2 win over the Red Wings, with coach Patrick Roy calling him day to day with an upper-body injury.
Forward Matthew Highmore and defenseman Marshall Warren were called up from AHL Bridgeport to fill the two roster spots, though neither featured in the lineup against Detroit.
Instead, Kyle MacLean drew back in as a winger on the fourth line, with Simon Holmstrom moving up onto the third line in what had been Shabanov’s spot.
“I feel like he’s controlling the puck, seems very comfortable with the puck,” Roy said of MacLean, who last played in Saturday’s win over the Senators. “I know he worked hard at it in the offseason and he’s rewarded for it. Really pleased with the games he’s played.”
Romanov’s move to IR does not change anything about his timeline to return; since the injury was backdated to Oct. 16, the minimum seven days that a player must spend on IR before being activated have already passed.
The Islanders also placed Pierre Engvall on long-term injured reserve.
While that is not notable insofar as it tells us nothing new about Engvall’s return timeline — general manager Mathieu Darche said Wednesday that the winger would miss 5-6 months after undergoing ankle surgery earlier this week — it does change the salary cap equation for the Islanders.
While the Islanders can still technically accrue cap space unless they are using the extra $3 million in cap space gained by having Engvall on LTIR — right now, they are $5,942 short of doing so — they will be in LTIR through the trade deadline, since Engvall cannot be taken off it until he is healthy.
Though things could have changed, the Isles were not on pace to accrue $3 million in space by the trade deadline, let alone the $5.75 million total they could get by moving Semyon Varlamov to LTIR in addition to Engvall.
Varlamov, who is recovering from knee surgery, does not have a firm timeline on his return, but is expected to be out for a significant period.
Darche said Wednesday that he has only just started testing his knee by dropping down into a goaltending stance.
Mathew Barzal did not participate in Thursday’s morning skate for what a team spokesman deemed load management on his surgically repaired kneecap. Barzal played in the game against Detroit.
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