Roughly 12 hours after losing the services of Calvin de Haan, the Islanders made a move to replace him by recalling Scott Mayfield from AHL Bridgeport, the club announced on Tuesday.
Mayfield, the 34th overall pick in 2011, has spent most of this year with the Sound Tigers, but did appear in three games for New York back in January/February.
At 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, the 23-year-old will be an upgrade on de Haan in terms of size -- but it’ll be a tall task for Mayfield to replace everything else de Haan brought to the table.
De Haan, knocked out of Monday’s win over the Bolts after taking a Nikita Kucherov shot to the knee, averages just under 21 minutes a night and leads the team in blocked shots this year, with 189.
He’s not the only missing piece on defense.
The Isles, of course, are also without the services of d-man Travis Hamonic, who’s out for the remainder of the regular season with a knee injury.
Its unclear when -- or, if -- Hamonic will return, which is especially troubling.
Hamonic, a steadying presence on the blueline, missed all of last year’s opening-round playoff loss to the Caps with a knee injury (grade-3 MCL tear). Without him, the defense was thinned out and the Isles ultimately bowed out in seven games.
The 25-year-old, who has been in the news quite a bit this season because of his earlier trade request, was averaging a career-high 24:04 TOI per night and tied a career-best in goals, with five.
There is a potential silver lining for New York’s blueline, however.
Adam Pelech, originally thought to be lost for the year after his thoracic outlet syndrome diagnosis, will return to action with Bridgeport this weekend, and could be available for the Stanley Cup playoffs.