Positive signs emerge as Islanders await Mat Barzals injury-postponed season debut

Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche said that while there’s still no set timeline for Mat Barzal to return from the left knee issues that have held up his start to the season, doctors “would be comfortable” for him to move to the next stage of his recovery.While Darche never directly said the ball is in Barzal’s court regarding when that will happen, he did make clear that the inflammation which originally caused the Islanders to hold Barzal out of training camp has subsided.“Initially there was some inflammation.We feel it’s controlled now.

Now it’s getting him to feel comfortable to take the next step,” Darche said.“There’s no setbacks.Nothing happened, no procedure.

Since training camp, nothing has come [up].We feel we’re controlling the inflammation.

It’s just how comfortable he feels.”Barzal has been skating on his own for a couple weeks now, and walked by a group of reporters at UBS Arena on Wednesday, briefly saying hello.Since he hasn’t practiced with the team, the Islanders are under no obligation to make him available to speak about his injury.Given the ongoing questions about the situation, though, they did have Darche speak on it Wednesday.“After two weeks [of skating], we feel the inflammation is down but we’re still working on getting his strength back and how comfortable he feels,” Darche said.“He’s skating.

Progress every day.Can I give you a definite timeline? No.

We hope it’s sooner, but every day, he’s starting to skate a little bit more and we’re hoping to, at some point, get him with the team and we’ll go from there.”Originally, the plan was for Barzal to resume skating around when the season started.That was pushed back by about a week, and since then, things have stayed in place, with the Islanders declining to commit to a timeline for any next steps.When Barzal does come back, he will need to manage his left kneecap, which was broken two years ago and required surgery to repair.

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