Islanders Iron Man Mentality: Adam Pelech’s Healthy Season Powered Islanders Blue Line

The New York Islanders’ postgame locker room award following wins this season was the Iron Man Mask, presented to the player of the game, but some players — including Adam Pelech — were iron men all year.
Playing in all 82 games for the first time in his career, it’s a remarkable accomplishment for Pelech on a personal level and one that provided a consistent, stabilizing presence to the Isles blueline.  

"I just felt lucky to be healthy," Pelech said. "Definitely worked very hard at staying healthy, keeping myself in shape, and doing everything I could to avoid injury. But sometimes, you just get bad luck and hit in the face with a puck or whatever. I'm fortunate to have been healthy all year."

It marked the first time in his 11-year NHL career that he completed a full 82-game slate. Pelech had previously reached the 70-game mark three times, most recently in 2021-22 before this past season. Pelech was one of four Islanders to play all 82 games, with Matthew Schaefer, Emil Heineman and Anders Lee being the others.

Pelech has battled through injuries in recent years, often a byproduct of his hard-nosed defensive game.
“It’s huge, it’s hard to play in every game,” Scott Mayfield said. “Things come up during the year, like injuries, sickness, stuff like that. It’s pretty cool when someone can do it. Every year it’s a couple of guys, never the whole team or anything like that because it’s hard to do.”

A healthy season allowed Pelech to look more like himself defensively, making it tough for opponents to play against him. He ranked second on the team with 124 blocked shots, while his 66 hits were good for second among defensemen. His 20:53 TOI/GP was second to only Matthew Schaefer (24:41 TOI/GP) and marked the seventh straight season Pelech averaged 20 or more minutes a night.  

“He was one of our key pieces back there the entire year,” Bo Horvat said. “He did a lot of great things and shut down some tough opponents. We needed him in the lineup every single night and he was a difference-maker on a lot of those nights. We’re happy to have him for all 82.”

The veteran defenseman also contributed in key moments offensively. Two of his four goals were game-winners, as he helped the Islanders take down the Avalanche with a game-winning goal in a 6-3 win on Dec. 4 and scored the go-ahead goal in a 2-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Dec. 23. He’s an asset on the penalty kill, as he was one of six Islanders to score shorthanded (Mar. 5) and he logged the second-highest shorthanded time on ice. (203:10).

Entering the offseason healthy, Pelech is already preparing for his 12th NHL season with the goal of building on a campaign that reminded the Islanders how valuable he can be when fully available.

“He had a great year. He played big minutes for us, played a ton on the penalty kill and blocked a lot of shots,” Tony DeAngelo said. “He did everything we needed, he went above and beyond.”