Islanders captain Anders Lee out for season with torn ACL

The New York Islanders sit tied atop the NHL East standings on 42 points but now know they'll be without their captain for the remainder of the season. 

New York confirmed on Wednesday that forward Anders Lee has suffered a torn ACL and is out for the rest of the campaign. Per ESPN stats, Lee began the day tied for the team lead with 12 goals.

He won't be ready to return before the Stanley Cup Playoffs conclude. 

"The rehab will not be as bad as a lot of ACL injuries are because there is nothing else damaged," Islanders president and general manager Lou Lamoriello told reporters, per the NHL's official website. "We feel he will be ready for next season; we have all indications of that. Certainly knowing the character and discipline of Anders and the rehab that he will be so diligent at, that he will be ready for next season." 

The 30-year-old went down in last Thursday's win over the New Jersey Devils after a collision with Pavel Zacha. New York originally placed Lee on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury. 

The NHL's story names future unrestricted free agent forwards Taylor Hall of the Buffalo Sabres and Kyle Palmieri of the Devils as potential trade targets for the Islanders ahead of the April 12 deadline. New York placing Lee on long-term injured reserve freed up $7 million in salary-cap space. 

"There's no question that now that we have cap room with Anders being on [LTIR], whatever we can do to make ourselves better, we will be doing that," Lamoriello added. "It certainly changes our focus. You lose a player like that, the role that he plays, our leading goal scorer up until his injury, if we can get ourselves better, we will. But we will not do something just for the sake of doing it. But we're now looking a little differently.

"If we have the opportunity to get a scorer, we certainly will do that without sacrificing what is coming for the future."