Islanders’ Ryan Pulock dealt with upper-body injury consistently throughout season
It has been an unceremonious decline for the New York Islanders, and one of their top blueliners has apparently been dealing with his own ailments throughout the 2025-26 season.
When speaking to the media on Wednesday, defenseman Ryan Pulock revealed that he had been dealing with an upper-body injury for most of the campaign. On top of that, he stated that he banged up his knee in the team’s game on Sunday against the Montreal Canadiens, which led to him sitting out the Islanders’ season finale on Tuesday night against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Pulock said he dealt wit an upper-body injury consistently throughout the year. Had an issue with his knee in Montreal. Will talk with doctors about potential procedures. Said more about UBI. Expects to be ready for camp but has to have more convos with docs. #Isles
Pulock didn’t reveal exactly when he was hurt or what exactly he injured earlier in the season. However, he noted that he’s going to have conversations with doctors to see which procedures he might participate in to get back to 100 percent. Yet, he remains optimistic that he’ll be ready to go by the time training camp comes around in September.
The 31-year-old missed a few games this year due to injury, with many nights him being listed as a game-time decision due to the aforementioned UBI. He still ended up playing 76 games, scoring three goals and 24 assists for 27 points, the fourth-highest point total of his NHL career. He also registered a plus/minus of +9, his best rating since the 2022-23 campaign, while averaging a little under 21 minutes of ice time per game.
The Manitoba native has struggled to play a full season, appearing in all 82 games in 2022-23. After playing in just 58 games the following year, Pulock was in the lineup 74 times in 2024-25.
Pulock is at the end of the fourth season of his eight-year contract, which carries an AAV of $6.15 million through the 2029-30 campaign.
The Islanders finished the 2025-26 season with a record of 43-34-5, missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second straight year.