Jean-Gabriel Pageau is expected to return from an upper-body injury before Christmas, Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche said Wednesday morning before the Islanders’ 3-1 loss to the Bruins.
Pageau, designated week-to-week before Saturday’s loss to the Blues, aggravated an old injury and there’s no long-term worries over his status as of now.
“When we say week-to-week, it’s cause it’s longer than day-to-day, but it’s not month-to-month either,” Darche said. “We’ll see how he progresses. I would suspect 2-3 weeks at the most, if not sooner. There’s nothing concerning in that aspect. There’s no surgery needed, no anything, it’s just healing an old injury.”
That is great news for the Islanders, who could ill afford to miss Pageau for longer than necessary. In his absence, Cal Ritchie has moved up to center the third line, while Casey Cizikas has returned to the center position on the fourth line, with Maxim Tsyplakov drawing back into the lineup.
Semyon Varlamov’s situation remains murky. There is still no timeline on the goaltender’s return from knee surgery, and Darche did not say one way or the other whether Varlamov will miss the season.
“He’s taking some shots from the goalie coach, but very controlled,” Darche said. “The thing I’ll give Varly is he’d going every effort and will have no regrets at the end. It’s a big rehab. So he’s taking the time he’s needing. We’re giving all the help he can get. We’ll see where it goes.”
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Darche said the Islanders now have four or five full-time analytics staffers, including director of hockey analytics Adam Gomes, and they’ll add another staffer soon.
“I think it’s gonna take a little bit of time to get to where I feel we should be, but we’ve made big strides in the last few months,” Darche said. “… We’re building out the department. We have a good chunk of data now, but it’s a big undertaking to modernize that part. We’re moving forward with it. It’s gonna take a few months, but that’s why we’re hiring people.”
On the ice from Long Island
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Darche has already traveled to South Bend, Ind., and Barrie, Ontario to see prospects Danny Nelson and Kashawn Aitcheson play in person this season.
He will attend Saturday night’s game at Madison Square Garden between Boston University and Cornell to see Cole Eiserman, Kamil Bednarik and Xavier Veilleux as well.
Eiserman, who recently missed time with an injury, is “doing fine,” Darche said.
To the surprise of no one, Darche said that Matthew Schaefer will not play for Team Canada in World Junior Championships.
