{"id":128843,"date":"2025-08-08T10:50:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T10:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/128843\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T10:50:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T10:50:09","slug":"ny-islanders-gm-shares-varlamov-injury-update-explains-rittich-insurance-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/128843\/","title":{"rendered":"NY Islanders GM shares Varlamov injury update, explains Rittich insurance signing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"61\">If there\u2019s one thing Islanders GM <strong>Mathieu Darche<\/strong> has made clear early in his tenure, it\u2019s that he\u2019s not leaving anything to chance \u2014 especially in net. On The Jeff Marek Show, Darche gave fans a cautiously optimistic update on <strong>Semyon Varlamov<\/strong>, who\u2019s been working his way back from last season&#8217;s injuries. \u201cFrom what I\u2019ve been told, his rehab is progressing well,\u201d Darche said. \u201cHe\u2019s getting on the ice next week, I believe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"64\">That\u2019s good news for an Isles team that leans heavily on <strong>Ilya Sorokin<\/strong> but needs a dependable backup to keep the workload manageable over an 82-game grind. Varlamov has been that guy for years, but last season\u2019s injury woes and surgeries left a big question mark heading into 2025\u201326.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"67\">Darche isn\u2019t waiting to see how things play out. He brought in veteran <strong>David Rittich<\/strong> as insurance \u2014 a move that not only protects the roster but also signals that playoff ambitions are still front and center. \u201cMy job is to protect the organization,\u201d Darche explained. \u201cIt\u2019s a big role\u2026 sometimes that\u2019s the difference between being in the playoffs or not.\u201d Last season, following Varly&#8217;s injury, the Islanders had to rely heavily on Sorokin and spot-start <strong>Marcus Hogberg <\/strong>and others. While Hogberg had his moments, he struggled after returning from a hand injury.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6e\">The Isles\u2019 new GM is balancing optimism with realism. Yes, Varlamov says he\u2019s \u201cprogressing well\u201d and \u201cfeels good.\u201d But Darche knows there\u2019s no guarantee a 37-year-old goalie coming off surgeries can jump right back into form. Rittich gives the team a safety net, and it means Sorokin\u2019s minutes can still be managed even if Varly needs more time.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6h\">If Varlamov is healthy, the Isles will have one of the league\u2019s better tandems again. If not, Darche\u2019s foresight could be the difference between chasing a wild card spot and locking one down early. Either way, the Isles are covered \u2014 and that\u2019s exactly how a playoff-minded team should operate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If there\u2019s one thing Islanders GM Mathieu Darche has made clear early in his tenure, it\u2019s that he\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":128844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-128843","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114992763726704372","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}