The New York Islanders have been one of the best teams in the NHL in the first half of the season. The upstart Isles have a real shot to win the Metropolitan Division title and maybe even earn the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
Now they will have to continue that push without one of their best players for the next two months.
Islanders coach Jack Capuano announced Monday that forward Kyle Okposo is going to miss the 6 to 8 weeks with an upper body injury.
In 46 games this season Okposo has 14 goals to go with 30 assists while playing on the Islanders' top line alongside John Tavares. Okposo has pretty much duplicated his production from a year ago when he finished with 69 points in 71 games.
Most recently, Okposo had been on quite a run for the Islanders leading into the All-Star break with nine points in six games where he scored six goals, including a four-goal game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 16.
Losing Okposo will definitely hurt, but the Islanders have assembled a pretty deep forward lineup that is among the best in the conference, and they are also expected to get Mikhail Grabovski back in the lineup soon, perhaps as early as Tuesday against the New York Rangers.