The New York Islanders announced Sunday that defenseman Alexander Romanov will miss 5-6 months to recover from shoulder surgery after Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen crushed him from behind into the boards.
Rantanen received a major penalty and a game misconduct for boarding Romanov in the final minute of the Islanders’ 3-2 road victory on Tuesday.
Romanov left the game and missed two matchups — New York’s 5-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings and a 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues — before the team ruled him out long term.
The Islanders host the Seattle Kraken on Sunday.
The club confirmed Romanov’s recovery timeline on the same day Rantanen was assessed an automatic one-game suspension for incurring multiple game misconducts. Rantanen took another major penalty and was ejected from a 3-2 shootout loss to the Calgary Flames on Saturday for boarding Matt Coronato in the second period.
Furious about the hit on Romanov, Islanders head coach Patrick Roy screamed at Rantanen on Tuesday as he walked through the tunnel between the team benches.
“First of all, (Romanov is) not happy. There’s no doubt about it,” Roy told reporters Sunday. “We have to move on, and you don’t replace a player like him. You hope that the guys coming in will fit in.”
The Islanders plugged defenseman Adam Boqvist into the lineup to replace Romanov and recalled rookie Marshall Warren from the American Hockey League for additional depth.
Romanov recorded one assist in 15 games and ranked third among Islanders blue-liners in average ice time (19:27). The 25-year-old Moscow product is in his sixth NHL season and fourth with New York, which acquired him in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens in 2022.
Montreal drafted Romanov in the second round in 2018. He has 84 career points (17 goals, 67 assists) in 369 games.
The Islanders (12-8-2, 26 points) entered play Sunday as the third-place team in the Metropolitan Division.
–Field Level Media
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