Trade Deadline Primer: New York Islanders

With the 4 Nations Face-Off break here, the trade deadline looms large and is less than three weeks away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the New York Islanders.

Against all odds, the Islanders have a fighting chance at a sixth postseason berth in the last seven years. Despite organizational pillars Mathew Barzal, Noah Dobson, and Ryan Pulock all missing significant time due to injuries – and they all remain out as of the break – they’ve put together an 8-3-0 run and sit four points back of the Red Wings for the final playoff spot in the East. That will likely motivate general manager Lou Lamoriello to focus on extending his veteran pending UFAs, but will he be willing to lose them for nothing if talks aren’t productive?

Record

25-23-7, 6th in the Metropolitan Division

Deadline Status

Retooler

Deadline Cap Space

$1.95MM on deadline day + $7.775MM LTIR pool, 0/3 retention slots used, 49/50 contracts used, per PuckPedia.

Upcoming Draft Picks

2025: NYI 1st, NYI 2nd, NYI 3rd, NYI 4th, NYI 5th, NYI 6th, NYI 7th
2026: NYI 1st, NYI 3rd, NYI 4th, NYI 6th, NYI 7th

Trade Chips

Despite ongoing preliminary extension discussions, veteran center Brock Nelson remains the best New York has to offer as arguably the most valuable rental asset still available on the market. He’s currently championship-bound with the United States at the 4 Nations, but in league play, the steady 33-year-old has contributed 17-18–35 in 55 games with a plus-one rating. While he’s on pace to fall short of the 30-goal mark for the first time since the shortened 2020-21 campaign, he’s still a veritable top-six talent.

He’s bounced between wing and center over the course of his career but has settled in down the middle. Faceoffs have routinely been a struggle for Nelson, but not this season. He’s winning draws at a career-best 53.2% clip, is averaging a career-high 19:10 per game, and should expect more goal-scoring down the stretch after finishing at 11.6%, nearly three points south of his career average, so far.

Nelson’s longtime linemate, winger Kyle Palmieri, is a pending UFA in the same boat. There’s been less said about extension negotiations there, but if Nelson isn’t sticking around for a playoff rate, there’s little use in not getting value out of Palmieri as well. The 34-year-old is still a bonafide top-six talent, tying Bo Horvat for the team lead in assists with 21 while tallying 37 points in 18:15 of ATOI. He’s one year removed from the second 30-goal campaign of his 15-year career, and while his $5MM cap hit may require a small bit of salary retention to get a deal across the finish line, he’ll net a significant return.

Outside of those two, there won’t be many Islanders drawing trade interest if they do decide to sell off assets and commit to a roster retool. All of their top talents (including Nelson and Palmieri) have some form of trade protection, and they’ve already tried and failed to move on from deals with term left like Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s $5MM AAV through 2025-26. They’ve also gotten their blue line work out the way early, acquiring veteran Tony DeAngelo and pending RFAs Adam Boqvist and Scott Perunovich to weather the storm in the absence of Dobson and Pulock.

It’s worth noting Dobson is a pending RFA who’s recently changed his representation, but rumors of him being on the trade market were again squashed by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Friday’s 32 Thoughts podcast.

Team Needs

1) Offensive Needle-Mover: The Islanders’ offensive struggles aren’t a new or unforeseeable phenomenon. They rank 26th in goals per game with 2.73, the seventh year in a row they’ve been decidedly in the bottom half of the league. They’ll need to offload significant assets to make it happen – potentially even Dobson, whose name was reportedly discussed in a lone scenario for a first-line forward – but a bonafide 90-point player would give New York the offensive centerpiece they haven’t had on the Island since John Tavares’ departure.

2) Backup Goaltender: Ilya Sorokin has had to handle the lion’s share of starts since veteran backup Semyon Varlamov exited the lineup with a lower-body injury in early December. He was initially ruled as day-to-day but is now on LTIR and remains out indefinitely. No. 3 option Marcus Högberg did well in limited usage after being called up from AHL Bridgeport, notching a .947 SV% in seven appearances, but he’s now on IR and leaves the organization without a reliable option to relieve Sorokin as they look to stay in the race.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.