Isles Day to Day: Four Players Placed in COVID-19 Protocol

Anthony Beauvillier, Cal Clutterbuck, Zach Parise and Oliver Wahlstrom were placed in COVID-19 protocol on Sunday as the team returned from the holiday break.
Beauvillier has eight points (4G, 4A) in 24 games this season, Clutterbuck has five goals in 26 games this season and a team-leading 104 hits this season. Parise has six points (1G, 5A) in 26 games this season while Wahlstrom is second on the Islanders with 15 points (8G, 7A) in 26 games this season. Wahlstrom also has a team-leading seven power-play points.

In a corresponding move, the team assigned three players to a newly-formed taxi squad: Cole Bardreau, Simon Holmstrom and Grant Hutton. The Islanders are allowed to have up to six players on a taxi squad, but President and General Manager Lou Lamoriello specified the team was still waiting on results of the Bridgeport Islanders COVID results before making any more additions.

Bardreau has six points (4G, 2A) in 10 games for Bridgeport this season. Bardreau played 10 games with the Islanders during the 2019-20 season with two points (1G, 1A) over that span. Holmstrom, the Islanders' 2019 first-round pick (23rd overall), has 15 points (4G, 11A) in 28 games in his third season in Bridgeport. Hutton has nine points (5G, 4A) in 17 games this season and the defenseman also played five games for the Islanders from Nov. 20 to Dec. 2.
The taxi squad players skated with the Islanders during Sunday's session, the first after the league's mandated holiday break. With Monday's Islanders-Sabres game postponed, the Islanders are scheduled to re-take the ice on Dec. 29 against the Detroit Red Wings at UBS Arena. Lamoriello said that he's been given the indication that the Islanders will play their scheduled games, including those against Canadian teams, both on Long Island and on the road. The NHL postponed all cross-border games from Dec. 20 till the start of the holiday break.

"Every indication we have is that we will be playing," Lamoriello said. "We have no indication that we will not be playing. We are having our first practice today. Tomorrow's game has been postponed and we will have three days of practice before our first game off this pause."
"We're approaching this like any other game," Lamoriello added. "Our coaching staff will get the team prepared as we normally would after a break. Certainly it's been a longer break as we've had in the past as far as Christmas, but having three days is very helpful to get prepared."

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