Isles Day to Day: Hood, Poletin, Romano Returned

The New York Islanders' 61-man roster shrunk to 58 on Monday, as Burke Hood (Vancouver WHL), Tomas Poletin (Kelowna WHL), and Luca Romano (Kitchener OHL) have all been returned to their junior teams.

Each player is part of the 2025 NHL Draft class and Poletin and Romano made their preseason debuts on Sunday against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Romano, who the Islanders drafted in the third round of the 2025 NHL Draft (74th overall), skated 8:03 TOI on Sunday and recorded one shot on goal centering a line with Hunter Drew and Gleb Veremyev. Romano also scored a highlight reel goal during Sunday's shootout. Romano is heading into his third season in juniors - all with the Rangers - and is coming off a 25-goal, 51-point campaign. The Toronto, ON native contributed 11 points (6G, 5A) in the playoffs last season.

Poletin, the Islanders fourth-round pick (106th overall), recorded three blocked shots, two hits and one shot on goal in 11:50 TOI on a line with Matthew Highmore and Alex Jefferies. Poletin is making the jump to Canadian juniors after spending his career in Finland, making his Liiga debut for the Pelicans last fall, graduating to Finland’s top professional league at the age of 17.

Hood, a native of Brandon, Manitoba, will play in his second WHL season after posting 19-13-6 record, along with a 3.13 GAA and a .910 SV% for the Giants last season.