Islanders’ trade needs are clear — but it’s complicated

The Islanders’ injuries have at least made one part of Mathieu Darche’s pending job easier: It’s not hard to discern what his needs are in the trade market.

The NHL’s rosters are frozen through Dec. 27, but a steady left-handed defenseman and a top six winger are at the top of the Islanders’ Christmas list. In other words, replacements for Alexander Romanov and Kyle Palmieri, who are out for the season after right shoulder surgery and a torn ACL, respectively.

Adam Boqvist and Travis Mitchell both had extended spells in Romanov’s spot, both of which produced promising moments but little to show they would last there for the rest of the season. The Islanders tried Marshall Warren there for Saturday’s 3-2 shootout loss in Buffalo and the Long Island native looked more like another stopgap than anything else, though he deserves another game Tuesday against the Devils before the holiday break.

There are a couple of more internal options the Islanders could try once Isaiah George and Ethan Bear get healthy. George showed promise in a 33-game NHL stint last season but injuries — he suffered an apparent lower-body injury on Friday after recently returning from an upper-body injury — have been the main complicating factor of his season. Bear, a natural righty but one with 275 NHL games on his résumé, got hurt in training camp and hasn’t been heard from since.