Islander’s captain John Tavares' season is over after being injured in Team Canada’s 2-1 win over Latvia. Tavares suffered a MCL tear and a torn meniscus and will miss the remainder of the 2013 2014 season. If there is any silver lining to this story; Tavares’ ACL is intact and the face of the Islanders’ franchise will be ready for training come September 2014.

I would expect with Tavares and center Frans Nielsen on the shelf and the impending trade of Thomas Vanek and Andrew Macdonald, there will be significant call ups from the Islanders’ AHL affiliate; the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. One would assume that Ryan Strome, Anders Lee and Matt Donovan are locks for call ups and I think either Johan Sundstrom or Mike Halmo will make their debut with the Islanders sooner rather than later.

I had the chance to ask Bridgeport Sound Tigers’ Head Coach Scott Pellerin what he would tell his team if he had lost a star player. “It’s the risk we all take playing; and he was representing his country which is a great honor and something all of us have all thought of at one point in time if you had the opportunity to play. It’s unfortunate, but it’s an opportunity for other guys to step up and get a chance to play. As an organization it’s devastating but the games have to go on but the whole organization is hoping he feels better.”

The news of the injury has sent shock waves throughout the organization. Last season goalie Anders Nilsson dealt with medical issues throughout the year. I asked him; what were the mental challenges that he faced not being able to be with the team. “Of course it’s tough because you want to be out there. You want to help the team win and you want to play hockey and enjoy it. It’s never fun to deal with injuries but unfortunately it happens and you have to try and make the best of it.”

While this is a crushing blow to the Islanders’ season the playoffs at this point were a longshot at best. This will give the Islanders a chance to closely analyze their young talent as they will be thrown directly into the fire. Islander rookies such as Brock Nelson and Ryan Strome should see expanded ice time and added responsibility so this will be a good chance gauge where they are in their NHL development.

With that being said this is still a punch to the gut of the Islanders’ fan base and organization as arguably one of the top 5 players in the league will miss significant time. The focus now moving forward will have to be evaluating the young talent that this team has, maximizing the trade value of any unrestricted free agents, looking ahead to the players that could help them in the 2014 draft and hoping that this young team will show you some fight and some spirit for the remainder of the season. As always for more hockey please follow me on twitter and Instagram at @DanDanNoodles78.

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