NHL

Ryan Strome’s demotion by Islanders not a knock on his play

It was all in the name of development that the Islanders sent Ryan Strome back to AHL Bridgeport on Wednesday, the No. 5 overall pick from 2011 packing his bag in Tampa and ending his first 15-game stint in the big leagues.

In the midst of a six-game road trip for the Islanders that resumes Thursday night against the Lightning and wraps up Saturday night in Philadelphia at the start of a home-and-home with the Flyers, Strome was nearing his limit of games that would have prevented him from playing in the AHL over the two-week Olympic break. Any player that participates in more than 15 of the team’s 20 games leading into the break, which begins Feb. 9, would not be eligible to play for their respective minor-league outlet during the NHL’s downtime, the league told teams in a memo before the season.

Since being called up in mid-December, the 20-year-old Strome has played in 15 games total, notching a goal and three assists, and a team source said they are not displeased with his performance, nor do they think he has regressed. Only the past eight games have counted towards that restrictive limit as part of the Islanders’ 20 leading into the break, which means he does have seven more NHL games to play before then, if the team chooses to utilize them. (We’re looking at you, Yankee Stadium game versus the Rangers on Jan. 29.)

The move also allows the team to take veteran defenseman Radek Martinek off of Injured Reserve, likely to play Thursday if Travis Hamonic is unable to go for a second straight game due to his upper-body injury.