Islanders’ Ryan Pulock out 2-4 weeks with upper-body injury

The New York Islanders will be without a veteran blueliner for up to a month.

On Sunday, the Islanders announced that defenseman Ryan Pulock will be out two to four weeks with an upper-body injury.

Pulock, 32, suffered the injury during Thursday’s 4-3 overtime win against the Minnesota Wild. The exact cause or nature of the injury is unclear, but he appeared to show some discomfort after engaging with Wild forward Yakov Trenin.

In 13 games this season, Pulock has no goals and an assist while averaging roughly 17 and a half minutes of ice time. Last season, the Dauphin, Manitoba native notched three goals and 24 assists for 27 points in 76 games while averaging just under 21 minutes of ice time.

Selected 15th overall by the Islanders out of the Western Hockey League’s Brandon Wheat Kings in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, Pulock is in his tenth full-time NHL season. He was at his most offensively productive over his first few years in New York, including the 2018-19 season in which he registered nine goals and 28 assists for a career-high 37 points. Meanwhile, the 6’2″, 220-pound blueliner was also developing into one of the more reliable defensive presences in the league.

In October of 2021, the Islanders signed Pulock to an eight-year, $49.2 million contract. He is currently in the fifth season of that deal.

Without Pulock, look for New York to lean even more heavily on second-year defenseman Matthew Schaefer, who is already third in the NHL in ice time per game with 26 minutes and 47 seconds.

The Islanders sit fourth in the Metropolitan Division with 16 points through 14 games. They’ll host the Carolina Hurricanes on November 5 before wrapping up a three-game homestand against the New Jersey Devils on November 7.