Further blueline health concerns have forced the New York Islanders to add to their blueline for the second time in two weeks with the low-cost acquisition (2024 7th-round pick) of Robert Bortuzzo from the St. Louis Blues.
The trade follows news that Ryan Pulock has been placed on IR with a lower body injury. A couple of weeks ago when Adam Pelech and Sebastian Aho were both hurt in the same game, the Isles quickly grabbed Mike Reilly off waivers from the Panthers. Now they have Bortuzzo, a right shot, at a $950,000 cap hit. Bortuzzo is a big penalty kill guy, so perhaps in the long run he might also spell Scott Mayfield, who has struggled recently and conceded that it’s taken a while to recover from his own injury.