Islanders announce devastating update on Romanov after Rantanen hit.

What was already a bitter pill for the New York Islanders and their fan base to swallow just got even more bitter.

On Sunday, the Islanders announced that defenseman Alexander Romanov would be sidelined for the next 5 to 6 months due to the fact that Romanov will now need corrective surgery to repair his right shoulder after he was injured on a hit from behind courtesy of Dallas Stars star forward Mikko Rantanen. The hit was a highly controversial topic around the National Hockey League last week, with many believing that Rantanen should have been suspended for the gesture.

That list includes NHL Hall of Fame inductee and Islanders head coach Patrick Roy.

"He's not happy, there's no doubt about it," said Roy as per NHL.com. "We didn't have the same opinion of the league when that happened, but we have to move on."

The incident occurred during a game between the Stars and the Islanders and part of what made it so controversial was the fact that it all went down with less than 30 seconds remaining in the game. Romanov was bumped from behind by Rantanen which sent him dangerously into the boards, but the NHL's Department of Player Safety opted not to discipline Rantanen over the incident.

The severity of the injury to Romanov, the worst case scenario for the Islanders, will make the lack of discipline for the gesture sting that much more. Not to mention the fact that Rantanen was suspended just a few days later after another dangerous hit from behind, this time on Calgary Flames forward Matt Coronato.