Islanders' Anders Lee out with upper-body injury

The Islanders will be without captain Anders Lee for the short term.

Not that they are showing too much concern about that right now.

“It’d be about one to two weeks,” coach Patrick Roy said on Wednesday at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow. “He’s going to skate on his own [Thursday], not with the group and we’ll go from there.”

Still, Lee missed the first practice with a full NHL group — which included No. 1 overall pick defenseman Matthew Schaefer — as compared to split groups since training camp opened this past Thursday.

The Islanders have four preseason games remaining over the next eight days, including Thursday night against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. They open the regular season in Pittsburgh on Oct. 9.

So there’s a chance Lee could see some time in either of the Islanders’ final two preseason games against the Rangers on Monday night at UBS Arena or in Philadelphia three nights later.

Lee logged 16:03 in Sunday’s preseason opener, a 3-2, 11-round shootout loss to the Flyers at UBS Arena. He missed a seven-minute stretch in the third period but was on the ice when the Flyers scored the late equalizer skating six-on-five and also participated in the shootout.

“He tripped at some time and hit the board,” Roy said.

Lee, who had 29 goals and 25 assists playing all 82 games last season, was skating on Mathew Barzal’s left wing along with Kyle Palmieri on a potential top line.

Emil Heineman, acquired from the Canadiens in the offseason in the Noah Dobson deal, took Lee’s spot on Barzal’s line and Palmieri replaced Lee as the net-front presence on the top power-play unit.

Lee’s absence is not expected to scramble Roy’s plans for the top three lines, with Bo Horvat remaining with Jonathan Drouin and Russian rookie Max Shabanov, while Jean-Gabriel Pageau centered Anthony Duclair and Simon Holmstrom.

Thursday is expected to be Duclair’s first game for the Islanders since he requested a leave of absence following Roy’s remark that he was “god awful,” and “lucky to be in the lineup,” after a 4-1 loss to the visiting Lightning on April 1. Roy apologized to Duclair in person this offseason.

Duclair is entering the second season of a four-year, $14 million deal after he injured his groin five games into last season. He has described it as “not connected to the bone,” and “playing on one leg.”

“I’m feeling pretty good and I feel confident to go in a game,” Duclair said. “Getting a preseason game is crucial before the season starts.”

Notes & quotes: Forward Max Tsyplakov (maintenance) missed practice and was listed as day to day, though he did skate on his own on Wednesday . . .Roy said goalie Semyon Varlamov, who is skating on his own in a stop-and-start recovery from season-ending knee surgery in December, is not close to rejoining his teammates . . . The Islanders returned first-round pick defenseman Kashawn Aitcheson (17th overall) to his junior team, Barrie of the Ontario Hockey League. He played in the Islanders’ first two preseason games, logging 17:48 in Tuesday night’s 6-2 road loss to the Devils.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.