Healthy Cizikas and Pelech Highlight First Day of Training Camp

As excited as all of the New York Islanders were to get back on the ice for the first day of Training Camp on Monday, perhaps no two were more excited than Casey Cizikas and Adam Pelech.
Cizikas had jitters - the good kind - before his first official practice with the team in five months after suffering a leg laceration on Feb. 11. For Pelech, Monday was his first practice in half a year, after injuring his Achilles tendon in a freak accident before the Isles-Devils game on Jan. 2.

"I've been looking forward to this day for a long time, I know Pelly has too,"
Cizikas said via a Zoom call with reporters on Monday
. "It's been almost six months since I've been skating with the guys, so to be out there it was fun, battling with them and just getting started."
Both Cizikas and Pelech said their injuries have healed well and that the extra time off benefitted both of their recoveries, as did the Phase 2 skates ahead of camp.
"The leg is doing well," Cizikas said. "I had a lot of time here to make sure that everything was well with it. I had that extra time which helped me a lot to get that strength back and to get that power back."
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The extra time especially benefitted Pelech, who assumed his season was over after getting a six-month recovery timeline in January. When the league paused on March 12, Pelech continued to rehab in hopes of being ready for if the season resumed. That hard work - from both Pelech and the Isles training staff - was realized as camp began.
"I have a lot of people to thank in terms of our training staff for dedicating some time away from their family's to help get me ready," Pelech said. "It's been a lot of hard work from a lot of people. We're just over six months and that was my original timeline, so I've been feeling good for a couple of months really and I feel 100% on the ice, which is great."
Pelech said he immediately knew that he'd suffered a major injury when the freak accident occurred, while Cizikas said he wasn't initially sure of how serious his injury was. The Islanders center had previously suffered a skate cut to his wrist in 2016.
"At the start, it just felt like I had been kicked with a steel toed boot, I didn't feel a cut or anything like that," Cizikas said. "I could kind of see through my sock and kind of just see red, and that kind of freaked me out right at the start. I couldn't really put pressure on my leg either, so that kind of scared me as well. But when I got back to the room, the docs kind of calmed me down and told me that I was lucky in a sense and it could've been a lot worse. They did a good job of kind of calming me down and make feel comfortable, especially with what was going on at that time."
Having both Pelech and Cizikas back and healthy - along with a healthy Johnny Boychuk, who also skated on Monday - is a big boost for the Islanders heading into their Stanley Cup Qualifier with the Florida Panthers.

Pelech averaged the second-most minutes on the team (21:08), averaged the most shorthanded time per game (2:47 SH TOI/GP) and 2.18 blocks per game. His defense-first style complimented his partner, Ryan Pulock, on the Isles top pair and should bolster the penalty kill.
Cizikas was the Islanders most-used penalty killing forward during the season (2:20 SH TOI/GP) and has been the sparkplug of the team's Identity Line with Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck. His 53.5% face-off winning percentage is second among Isles who've taken over 300 draws and he's counted on to take a lot of d-zone draws.
"I think both of those guys will be just fine," Head Coach Barry Trotz said on a Saturday Zoom call with reporters. "I don't see any drop off. They're both excited. They really missed the time that they did miss when they had their injuries. I expect that both of them will have a big impact like they usually do."

Trotz was pleased to see both players back at practice on Monday and said they set the pace of their respective groups. Pelech skated in group one, while Cizikas was on the ice in group two and helped warm up Thomas Greiss in the goalie session.
"They looked normal, they looked like they'd played an 82-game schedule right through, so I was really happy with them," Trotz said. "You talk about people who looked fresh and excited, both of those guys were probably leading the pack when it comes to the excitement they have on the ice."