Romanov's Season Is Likely Over, and the Islanders' Blue Line Just Got Paper-Thin

The worst news possible, delivered the morning after a rivalry loss. Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov tore the ACL in his right knee in Tuesday's 5-2 loss at the Rangers and will miss six to eight months after surgery, the team announced Wednesday. For Romanov, it's the second straight season destroyed by injury. For the Islanders, it's the moment their biggest offseason bet in years officially became a problem.

The cruelest déjà vu

Three games. That's all Romanov got this season — three games into his comeback from shoulder surgery, plus-2, no points, averaging 16:34 a night, looking like the player the Islanders paid for. Then a collision with Mika Zibanejad in the third period Tuesday, and he was gone with 12:04 left, never to return.

Last season ended the same way, just a different joint: a November shoulder injury against Dallas required surgery and cost Romanov the final 62 games. He played 15 games all of last season. Add the three this fall and he's played 18 hockey games in more than a calendar year. For a 26-year-old defenseman who was supposed to be entering his prime, that's devastating — and you don't have to be a doctor to wince at back-to-back season-enders at this age.

The contract

Here's where it gets uncomfortable. On July 1, 2025, in his first move as Islanders general manager, Mathieu Darche signed Romanov to an eight-year, $50 million extension — the cornerstone-of-the-blue-line deal for a 26-year-old with 84 points (17 goals, 67 assists) in 372 career games, a second-round pick (No. 38) by Montreal in the 2018 draft. A no-move clause kicks in this summer. The Islanders have now gotten 18 games out of the first two seasons of that deal.

To be fair to Darche, the bet made sense at the time: Romanov had three straight 20-point seasons, accepted head coach Peter DeBoer's challenge to show up to camp in shape, and was skating in the top four. The bet just hasn't survived contact with reality.

Romanov's road here is worth remembering, because it explains why the Islanders bet big. Montreal drafted him 38th overall in 2018, and in July 2022 the Canadiens traded him to the Islanders for a first-round pick — the 13th overall selection — as part of the chain of deals that brought Kirby Dach to Montreal. He was 22, physical, and trending up. The hockey was never the question. The availability is.

Now what on the blue line

The Islanders' training-camp plan was built around Romanov holding down the left side in the top four — it's a big reason rookie Matthew Schaefer was flipped to the right side in camp. Now the options are all compromises: keep Schaefer on the right and call up a lefty from AHL Hamilton (Isaiah George or Kashawn Aitcheson), or flip Schaefer back to the left and plug in one of the healthy scratches, Scott Mayfield or Matt Kessel. Neither has practiced on the left, which makes that the worst of the options.

George didn't win a roster spot in camp, which is why the Isles signed Logan Stanley after camp as insurance. Aitcheson turned heads in camp and had an assist in Hamilton's opener — but Darche is wary of rushing a 20-year-old who was in juniors last season. It's probably a matter of time before Aitcheson gets the call; the question is whether “too soon” beats “we need a body.” Up front, at least, Mathew Barzal is working his way back.

Thursday doesn't wait

The schedule is merciless: Chicago visits UBS Arena at 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, with Patrick Kane back in a Blackhawks sweater and the Islanders trying to figure out their defense on the fly. The good news is we've seen the ceiling — Saturday's 6-0 rout of New Jersey in the home opener. The bad news is we've also seen the floor — eight shots over the final two periods against the Rangers with the game there to be taken.

Romanov's earliest realistic return lands near the end of the regular season, and only if everything about the rehab goes right. The likelier outcome is the one nobody wants to say out loud: his season is over.

DeBoer, for his part, isn't making excuses. After Tuesday's loss he pointed at the second period — “We had a chance to take the lead — that maybe changes the game,” he said — and at the reality of chasing in this league. But the math is the math: the Islanders' blue line is officially paper-thin, and the next few weeks will show whether the internal options can hold it together.

The calendar is the other opponent. Surgery now, then six to eight months: the optimistic end lands around early April, the final fortnight of the regular season; the pessimistic end lands in June, well after any playoff run. The Islanders have to plan like he's done — because he almost certainly is.