The Islanders’ radio crew will be off the road for the majority of away games this season, the team confirmed to The Post on Tuesday.
Chris King and Greg Picker will only travel to games against the Devils, Rangers and Flyers — all within driving distance — and call the other road games remotely. Newsday was first to report the news.
Outside of the COVID-19 induced hiatus, when nearly all of sports media halted travel, King and Picker have regularly been on the road, including last season.
During the pandemic, they called games out of studios at Hofstra.
Hofstra’s WRHU (88.7 FM) is one of the stations that carries the Islanders’ broadcasts, along with ESPN Radio (1050 AM/98.7 FM) and WRCN (103.9 FM).
Since the Islanders’ TV and radio crews don’t travel on the team charter — one of general manager Lou Lamoriello’s rules — there is a significant added cost that most other teams do not have.
The move to limit radio travel is not expected to affect MSG’s TV crew, which is usually present on the road.
The Islanders are not the only team whose radio crew has been grounded. Last season, the Maple Leafs’, Flames’ and Canucks’ radio broadcast crews did not travel, nor did the English language broadcast team for the Canadiens.
In the case of Toronto, the broadcast team did travel to the second round of the playoffs after the Maple Leafs took significant criticism for the broadcasters not being in Tampa during the first round. That led to play-by-play announcer Joe Bowen misidentifying the winning goal-scorer in the series-clinching Game 6.
Outside of hockey, the Blue Jays and Angels are among the teams that have limited their radio broadcast crews’ travel.
Scott Mayfield did not play Tuesday in the 1-0 win over the Coyotes after he blocked a shot off his leg toward the end of the season-opening win over Buffalo on Saturday.
Coach Lane Lambert described Mayfield as day-to-day, but said he has not been skating.
Samuel Bolduc replaced Mayfield in the lineup, skating on the third pair with Sebastian Aho.
Matt Martin played his 900th NHL game Tuesday.