Today the New York Islanders announced that forward Anders Lee is out with a lower-body injury. This will be detrimental to the Islanders roster.
#Isles Injury Update: Team captain Anders Lee is out indefinitely with a lower body injury. There will be no further update provided at this time.
— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) March 12, 2021
Anders Lee Out With Lower-Body Injury
The Islanders were quite mystic with the announcement of Anders Lee’s injury. There is no timetable for his return to the ice. The Islanders are coming off of a 5-3 win against the New Jersey Devils. All six of their defencemen got on the board. However, this came with the loss of Anders Lee in the first period, after he got tangled up with Devils’ Pavel Zacha. He went to the locker room immediately.
Lee has played very well this season. The Lee-Mathew Barzal–Jordan Eberle line has been very impactful and a key to the Islanders’ success. Lee leads the team with 12 goals and seconds only Barzal in the points category with 19. At 0.70 points per game, Lee has been pivotal to the team’s success thus far. Over his career, it’s more of the same. Lee played his 295th game in a row, which is the third-longest streak in Islanders franchise history. Sadly, that will be coming to an end.
Lee has been in the league for nine years and has put up some great numbers. In 520 games played, Lee has scored a total of 320 points. He has 184 goals and 136 assists. In 2014-15 he was ninth in Calder voting.
What This Means for the Future
Not having their captain in the lineup will hurt the Islanders, as it does for any team. His goal-scoring presence will be missed in a forward core and overall system that struggles with offence. Additionally, Barzal and Eberle will miss their strong net-front counterpart that thrives by putting in rebounds and fighting for loose pucks. The Islanders will have to slot in someone from the taxi squad for the time being. The loss of Lee will test the Islanders’ forward core and depth as someone from lines two, three, or four will be pushed up inevitably. The future looks bleak if he is out for an extended period of time, but we don’t know for now.
Main Photo:
