A day after Doug Weight said Josh Ho-Sang could potentially return to the lineup as soon as Thursday, the Islanders demoted the rookie to AHL Bridgeport.
Winners of three straight — the last two with Ho-Sang as a healthy scratch — the Islanders left for a two-game road trip Wednesday without the 21-year-old winger.
“I’m not afraid of putting Josh in,” Weight said after a win Tuesday over the Coyotes. “I think he earned this time out of the lineup, not in a bad way, not in a behavioral way. I think it’s important to his development. Every kid is developed a different way. I think it was really good for him to watch those two games and we’re going to talk again [Wednesday] and we’ll figure it out.
“I am completely confident in Mr. Ho-Sang in my lineup. But I felt this was the best way to go.”
Ho-Sang has played in six of the Islanders’ nine games this season, tallying four assists. That puts him tied for fourth on the team in points per game. The 2014 first-round pick skated a season-low 12 shifts Thursday in a win against the Rangers, the last time he was in the lineup.
Earlier on Tuesday, Weight said Ho-Sang was handling the scratches as well as could be expected.
“He’s fine with it — he’s not fine with it, that’s just the way it is,” Weight said. “I’m not going to get into our conversations and how many we have, but we speak a lot, as do the coaches. It’s about grooming him. I said before, he’s going to be a big piece of our team.”