Isles Day-to-Day: Changes on Defense

After keeping the lineup intact for two straight games, Barry Trotz tinkered with his lines and d-pairs at Sunday's practice.
Most of the changes were on the back end, as Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk were reunited. Leddy also moved back over to the left side, where he's spent almost the entirety of his NHL career.

"It's always good to play with Johnny," Leddy said. "Everybody on this team is pretty easy to play with, but I've been playing with Johnny for four years now, so it's pretty easy to mold back with him."

Scott Mayfield, who was scratched for the first two games, was paired with Thomas Hickey after practicing with Dennis Seidenberg to start the season. Luca Sbisa was paired with Seidenberg on Sunday. The new pairs give the Islanders three pairs with a left and right-handed defenseman.
"It's more of a lefty-righty thing," Head Coach Barry Trotz said. "We had a couple of lefties together and now that Mayfield is going to get in there he goes on the right side. It makes it more lefty-righty situation which is good to have. We'll rotate, you might see different combinations, but if we're going with the three pairs that's how we'd line them up."
The only change up front was Tom Kuhnhackl subbing in for Tanner Fritz.

Trotz said he wants to get some of the players who haven't played yet - Mayfield, Lehner and Kuhnhackl - into the lineup. After Monday's game the Islanders are off until Saturday's visit to Nashville.
"We're going to try to get everyone in," Trotz said. "We're just trying to find the right combinations. We start with the first process and work from there. It's a little bit of getting some more balance and opponent balance."
Trotz also confirmed that Robin Lehner will make his Islanders regular season debut on Monday.