The Islanders usually are a hard team to predict at the trade deadline because of general manager Lou Lamoriello’s secrecy.

Right now, they are a hard team to predict at the deadline because it is entirely unclear what their biggest needs will be.

That will depend on exactly how long Ryan Pulock and Semyon Varlamov remain out with lower-body injuries. Neither players has begun skating on his own.

Pulock was hurt in a Dec. 7 win over Columbus, prompting the Islanders to trade for Robert Bortuzzo (who has since joined the injured reserve brigade); Varlamov went down a week ago Tuesday in Colorado.

And, adding another potential issue, Casey Cizikas went off limping after blocking a shot in a 5-2 loss to Vancouver on Tuesday night. He tried and failed to rejoin the game.

It is not just that the Islanders will need to fill their own injury holes if those players do not return soon, it is also that Pulock’s status specifically will dictate how much salary-cap space they will operate with leading up to the March 8 deadline.

With Pulock on long-term injured reserve, the Isles can carry an extra $6.15 million on their salary cap. They already have dipped $2,712,500 into that pool. That leaves them with $3,437,500.

(The potential addition of Zach Parise to the cap sheet is another factor that could diminish their available dollars, the timing of which Lamoriello does not control.)

If and when Pulock is activated, however, that cushion evaporates, and the Islanders will be back to the $83.5 million hard cap. They also cannot accrue cap space until Pulock is active. Exactly how much they will accrue by the trade deadline, then, depends on when Pulock becomes active.

That will require the Islanders to shed some cap dollars — which entails tough decisions on its own. The exact number they would retain on March 8 may not be clear, but we can be unequivocal in saying: not a whole lot.

For the sake of simplicity, you can assume the Islanders would have to match salaries or come close to doing so in any trade if they aren’t still in LTIR.

4

For that matter, if they anticipate Pulock coming back on, say, March 15, they’ll need to operate under the same auspices. The only scenario in which the Isles truly have $3.4 million available to them at the deadline would be if Pulock were out for the rest of the season or can’t return until the playoffs, when teams can go over the cap.

If that is the case, the Islanders need to start thinking about rental defensemen (really, they might need to do that anyway, but being able to take on salary makes things easier).

Calgary’s Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev would be logical places to start. Both are on expiring deals and have been rumored for months to be on the move.

Perhaps even more urgent, though, could be goaltending. Depending on how long Varlamov is out, playing Ilya Sorokin every night is not going to be feasible after a certain point.

Based on Tuesday, that point may come sooner than the Islanders want. Sorokin is leading the league in shots faced, and he isn’t stealing games for the Isles the way he was last season. Against Vancouver, he let in a Tyler Myers slap shot that he should stop 10 out of 10 times.

If the Islanders aren’t expecting Varlamov to be back soon, they need to get someone who can back up Sorokin.

4

By the way, that doesn’t mean an organizational No. 3 goalie who can spot-start on the second end of a back-to-back. That would make a minimal difference at best.

They would need someone who can be trusted to play at least every third or fourth night.

Whether it actually will be possible to do any or all of that given cap constraints and unclear injury timelines is another question entirely.

Throw in that the Islanders haven’t made a first-round pick since 2019 and should probably try as hard as possible to make sure that streak ends in 2024, and, well, it’s a little difficult to see a way out of this other than hoping everyone gets healthy as quickly as possible.

Lamoriello has made things happen out of nowhere before, including a trade last year for Bo Horvat that looks pretty shrewd now with Anthony Beauvillier having been moved to the Blackhawks as a cap casualty and Aatu Raty stuck in the AHL.

But it is going to be hard to maneuver until there is some injury clarity.

The Professional Women’s Hockey League’s local side hosted Montreal on Wednesday at UBS Arena, one of at least four games this season that PWHL New York will play on Long Island.

4

The team split its first two games, beating Toronto in the nascent league’s first ever game before dropping its first home game, also against Toronto, in Bridgeport, Conn. — PWHL New York’s home schedule is split between Bridgeport and Long Island with the site for three games yet to be determined.

“It’s outstanding,” Isles coach Lane Lambert said. “Certainly I wish them all the best. It’s exciting. Bobby Carpenter’s daughter [Alex] plays for them. I played with Bobby Carpenter. Brooke Hobson, she’s from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, which is 57 miles from where I grew up. It’s exciting to watch and pay attention, and I wish them all the best.”

Brock Nelson’s wife, Karley, played four years of hockey in college at Wisconsin, reaching two Frozen Fours.

“She dedicated a lot of her life to the game and loved it. And now that we have kids that are doing the same thing and are older, too, a boy and a girl, they’re getting into it,” Nelson said. “Just to have that for something they can look up to and see how much they love it, it’s huge. To share that with all of them and Karley, it’s awesome.”

Ruslan Iskhakov was named the AHL All-Star representative for Bridegeport on Wednesday. His 28 points currently lead the club, as do his 12 goals and 16 assists.

The chances of another Islander getting into the NHL All-Star Game look slim after the latest update was released by the league Tuesday.

No Islander was in the league’s top 15 vote-getters among skaters or top eight among goaltenders — eight skaters and four goalies will get in based on fan votes. The final rosters will be announced Saturday.