The young talent is back in the building after the New York Islanders brought up youngster Ryan Pulock to replace Nick Leddy.
On Wednesday, the New York Islanders announced that defenseman Ryan Pulock was recalled from Bridgeport on an emergency basis. This morning it was revealed that Nick Leddy is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Can Ryan Pulock help reinvigorate a lost Islanders defense? Can he help the unsuccessful Islander powerplay?
Shot In The Arm
As unfortunate as it is to see a player like Leddy go down, fans are ecstatic for Pulock to be back in the bigs. Pulock showed a ton of promise in the second half of last season and in the playoffs. Before the first game of the season when the rosters were solidified Pulock and Pelech were two noticeable cuts.
It is believed Pulock was left off the final roster in order to give Beauvillier and Barzal a chance to play in the NHL. Pulock has proved himself in the NHL even though he has plenty of development left. Despite that, there’s not much more he can refine in the minors.
"I'm back here now, I want to get in, get out there, play my game and play like I was playing last year" @rpulock #Isles pic.twitter.com/LpuqIac49M
— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) October 20, 2016
New Combos
Pulock slotted in on the 3rd line in Islanders practice as well as on the first powerplay line. This could be a tremendous boost to the Islanders man-advantage which has been anemic, yet again, in the beginning of this season (1 for 11, 9.1%).
It’s no secret that the defense has been slow to start outside of deHaan – Seidenberg. Now that a new face has come in, Capuano is shaking up his defense to invigorate positive change. The new defensive lines at practice are:
Hickey – Hamonic
deHaan – Boychuk
Seidenberg – Pulock
Capuano and the fans are hoping it helps reinvigorate the defense and match what it was in 14-15. In addition, it will be good to see if Hamonic can break his mini-slump which started the season skating alongside the newly-invigorated Thomas Hickey.
