New York Islanders

New York Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield has been recalled from a loan from Bridgeport (AHL).

By Justin Weiss

The New York Islanders may be in second place and on-pace for nearly 100 points, but that hasn’t stopped fans from showing signs of concern about their team.

New York, who lost 4-1 Thursday to the first-place Washington Capitals, was already without star defenseman Johnny Boychuk. It appears that Travis Hamonic, the team’s defensive protégé, also suffered injuries in the team’s loss at Barclays Center Thursday night. Seventh defenseman Brian Strait may be nursing an injury as well.

Hamonic, 25, was limping from a shot that hit him in the ankle on Thursday night. Later in the contest, he took a high hit from Alexander Ovechkin and was visibly hurting.

The Isles haven’t played too well on defense since Boychuk went down, so a Hamonic injury would hamper the team even more than usual. With Eric Boulton (yes, that Eric Boulton) on the IR, Hamonic is still with the team, although he didn’t practice today.

To replace Hamonic, the Isles have called up Scott Mayfield, 23, from Bridgeport.

Mayfield impressed fans tremendously after he was briefly called up for the end of the Isles’ first round series against the Washington Capitals last season. Tremendous size and plenty of feistiness permitted the 6-4/209 pound blueliner to come into the league bruising other players, rather than getting abused himself. His biggest negative is a lack of offensive production, but as the team as a whole showed last night, playing with the bad boys of the NHL is their biggest problem.

Earlier in the season, it was reported that Hamonic was on the trade block. While there were a whirlwind of rumors right after Elliot Friedman of Sportsnet broke the news, it appears that “Hammer” will be staying on Brooklyn until the season concludes.

Adam Pelech has been given the opportunity to also play for the big club the past week.

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Justin Weiss is a staff editor at Elite Sports New York, where he covers the New York Islanders and Brooklyn Cyclones. In 2016, he received a Quill Award for Freelance Journalism. He has written for the Long Island Herald, FanSided and YardBarker.