It was no secret that in order to get better after last season’s disappointment, the New York Islanders needed to find a way to add scoring and get younger on the blueline. They managed to do one of those things, acquiring 22-year-old defenseman Alexander Romanov from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for their 2022 first-round pick. However, the team was unable to, at least so far, address its lackluster offense. The Islanders had been connected to star free agents Johnny Gaudreau, who ultimately signed with the division-rival Columbus Blue Jackets, and Nazem Kadri who recently signed with the Calgary Flames.
Today on NHL Network, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman discussed the Islanders with Bill Pidto, saying that while he believes they were interested in Kadri, they were never able to create the cap space to make it work. Interestingly, the Islanders actually have the fourth most salary cap space available according to CapFriendly, with just under $11.2MM available. However, the team does need to re-sign the recently-acquired Romanov, forward Kieffer Bellows, and breakout defenseman Noah Dobson. Between those three, it could command a large portion of their space. Though it may not take all of it, it would most likely bring them below the $7MM needed to, at the very least, match the offer Kadri accepted in Calgary.
To create that space, Lou Lamoriello could have opted to try to move one, or both of, wingers Josh Bailey and Anthony Beauvillier. Though both are solid contributors on Long Island, moving their $5MM or $4.15MM cap hits, respectively, could have created the space necessary to sign a dynamic player like Kadri. Given the cost for Calgary to trade away Sean Monahan, who had just one year left at $6.375MM, the price for the Islanders to move one of their forwards may have been too steep to make it worthwhile. Another option could have been to move goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who carries a $5MM AAV, but is playing behind star netminder Ilya Sorokin. However, Lamoriello made clear his intention to keep the veteran netminder.
Also of note, Friedman added that he does believe deals with Romanov and Dobson are already done, saying he believes Dobson’s deal “is a big number.” Friedman also believes Romanov’s contract could come somewhere in the $3MM AAV range. Having the deals done, but not announced, is in keeping with Lamoriello’s previous dealings, including last summer’s rather late announcements, most notably of a Kyle Palmieri contract. Although Friedman didn’t mention Bellows as having an agreed-upon deal, it is worth noting the winger was arbitration-eligible, but neither him nor the Islanders filed. This surely doesn’t mean a deal is done, but would be a curious choice if nothing had been agreed upon (or could simply indicate very amicable talks between the two).
“Latest” is apparently code for “no news to report”. Nothing new here. Just a waste of a read.
Sign and trade with Vancouver for JT Miller.
Give back Dobson or Romanov.
Solves some problems for both teams
Islanders need those defenseman
Hate to say it but then you might have to enjoy boring hockey and being 18th or worse in scoring again….
I have had to live with boring islanders for many years to the fact that I can live with it for another year. But this better be the last year for Lose Lamoriello
It is 4.1 million, not 4.5 million on Beauvillier, plus Bailey is only owed 7 million cash for the two remaining years, despite his 5 million AAV.
Lou should have cleared some space at last season’s deadline or earlier in the offseason, but the aging GM simply isn’t adept at planning ahead or more than singular thinking.
Varlamov should have been an option when the market was huge on netminders and teams were needing one and in most instances overpaying; plus when there were backups still available on the market. Islanders need of forward upgrades (more scoring) outweighs the luxury of paying 5 million for your backup goalie, especially when Sorokin is ready to take on more for a 50-60 start role…
Bailey and Beau also should have been dangled earlier and not when cap space is at a premium. There have been a dozen or so players signed/traded who have similar or worse production and contracts.
Lou failed miserably (again)
people need to look at the fact that the offense is going to change. we are not going to have forwards playing back all the time. just the change in coaches to Lambert will probably add scoring to our mix. we just need a consistency on defense and we actually addressed that with Romanoff. at this point I would just be happy to have the two defensemen locked up and save the cap space for the deadline.
JT will definitely command a considerable raise on his current salary. Add in the acquisition cost of acquiring JT + the cost to move out a bad contract or 2 & maybe Lou doesn’t want to deal out future high draft picks.
Just a reminder, “between” is used for two people. Any more use “among”.
Last paragraph it’s “he” not “him”. As in “neither he nor the Islanders filed.
Good luck.
No one likes the grammar police.
Just saying.
Speak for yourself. Just trying to help Gilroy’s readability. Not criticizing.
@Charlie Hickey – Nothing wrong with what you’re doing. Some members have a stick up their backside about it, but that’s just too damn bad. Ironically, the LanguageTool plugin doesn’t catch “him”, which is incorrect as you stated. That’s why the eye test is the final arbiter.
Quite. Some people wonder whether someone who posts an article to a professional site without proofreading is equally as careful about sources or facts.
@Nha Trang – It almost sounds like you’ve read a notorious article on a tech site where the author seemingly skipped the proofreading part and just hit “Submit”, thereby inciting a crap-storm of comments. The author, though, is a very well known PhD (very well respected in the tech community), so the article, as written, was totally out of character. It was as though he delegated that part of the work to someone else and just trusted them to do it right. Anyone who has read his work or watched his YT channel knows he is competent, and then some. His channel has a bit of a goofy name, but he knows his stuff. And, he’s acquainted with AMD’s CEO, Dr. Lisa Su, so he’s no Joe Shmoe. He just got his butt roasted for that one, in a big way, but has recovered to continue his usual quality tech work. Or, you could’ve been hinting at something else…