According to Bob McKenzie of TSN, the Jean-Francois Berube may be included in the New York Islanders side-deal with the Vegas Golden Knights. That deal in particular has been tough to pin down for all those chasing it, with several different iterations coming out in the last few days. The latest has it involving the Islanders’ first-round pick (15th-overall this year) in order to protect some unnamed group of players from selection, while Mikhail Grabovski’s contract could be headed the other way. This is the first we’ve heard of Berube being involved.
Interestingly, the Golden Knights have been expected to already have too many goaltenders after the draft and will unlikely have room for Berube on their roster. Recently it has been reported that Antti Raanta was not the selection from the Rangers, meaning perhaps Vegas is going for more position players than originally expected. Though Berube has some potential as an NHL goaltender, he played just 14 games for the Islanders this season (seven starts) and put up a .889 save percentage. He was relegated to the third string goaltender early in the season and never really received a chance as the Islanders struggled in net. With the team re-signing Thomas Greiss in early January, the writing was on the wall for Berube’s future in New York.
15th-overall is a hefty price to pay for any trade, but protecting their exposed group and getting rid of Grabovski’s cap hit seems important enough to the team. There have been rumblings of the Golden Knights wanting to move up from sixth-overall in the entry draft, and the Islanders’ pick could be a big part of that. Pierre LeBrun of TSN mentioned early this morning that Vegas had secured ten draft picks over the next few seasons, with several expected in the first round this season. While the team they ice on opening night in 2017-18 might not be incredible, the Golden Knights seem poised to have a quick build through the draft and young assets.