The New York Islanders are in a weird spot.
They’re still relatively close to a postseason spot, just four points out with a 7-3-0 record in their last 10 games. However, even if they do make the offseason, a big if, are they realistically going to do anything of note?
Take last season for example. They finished third in the Metropolitan Division but won a single game before being eliminated by the Carolina Hurricanes. The year prior, they finished in the first Wild Card spot and even won two games against the Hurricanes before being eliminated.
The last time they won a playoff round was in 2021 and the last time they went to the Conference Finals was in 2020 during the weird pandemic-effected postseason. All of this is to say that it’s clear that this ageing core evidently can’t do a whole lot in the postseason, thus trading their expiring free agents may be the play.
With that being said, who could the Islanders trade before the March 7 trade deadline?
Kyle Palmieri
Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli believes that Kyle Palmieri could be an ideal fit for the Edmonton Oilers, noting the six-time 20-goal scorer would fit nicely alongside Leon Draisaitl and can move around in the middle six. This season for the offence-starved Islanders, he has 16 goals and 37 points in 55 games and is coming off his second 30-goal season in 2023-24.
Palmieri has a cap hit of $5 million and becomes a free agent at season’s end. It’s also worth noting that he has a 16-team no-trade list, so who knows if he has the Oilers on there. If he does, would he waive it?
Brock Nelson
Playing his entire career for the Islanders, Brock Nelson is one of the most underrated players in the league. A perennial 20-goal scorer, but that changed in 2021-22 when he scored a career-high 37 goals with 59 points in 72 games. In 2022-23, he scored 36 goals with a career-high 75 points, followed by a 34-goal, 69-point season in 2023-24. So far in 2024-25, he has 17 goals and 35 points. He’s on pace for 25 goals and 52 points, similar to his numbers before taking off in 2021-22.
Like Palmieri, Nelson is in the final year of his contract carrying a cap hit of $6 million. Moreover, the 33-year-old forward has a 16-team no-trade list. Nelson is a centre which only helps what the Islanders will be able to get for him.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau
Right-shot centres are important, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau is a strong faceoff taker. This season, he’s won 345 of 578 faceoffs for 59.7 percent, the highest mark of his career as well as one of the best percentages in the league. He chips in offensively as well, scoring 10 goals and 27 points in 52 games this season, with a career-high of 26 goals coming in 2019-20. Pageau is on pace for 15 goals and 41 points, which would be one of the best seasons of his career.
Pageau will be expensive though. On top of being a strong right-shot centre, the 32-year-old has a manageable cap hit of $5 million with an additional year of term left on his deal. Like Nelson and Palmieri, Pageau has a 16-team no-trade clause. Pageau ranked 20th in Daily Faceoff’s latest Trade Targets article.
Anders Lee
Moving to the improbable players to be traded, Andres Lee is the Islanders’ captain. Like Pageau, Palmieri, and Nelson, Lee is in his 30s but there isn’t much of an incentive for the Islanders to trade him. The 34-year-old leads the team with 23 goals and 41 points and is on pace for 34 goals and 61 points, which would be his second-best season aside from his 40-goal, 62-point season in 2017-18.
Lee has a cap hit of $7 million and his contract doesn’t expire until the end of the 2025-26 season. He also has a 15-team no-trade list and who knows if the Oilers are on there.
Noah Dobson
If there’s any validity to the rumour that Noah Dobson is available, the Oilers should be all over that. The 25-year-old has six goals and 24 points in 46 games this season and instantly becomes the best right-shot defenceman available on the market. Last season, he scored 10 goals and 70 points on top of strong defence. It’d cost an arm and a leg, but imagine Dobson playing alongside Darnell Nurse.
There are a lot of reasons why this won’t happen. For starters, the report also notes that Dobson would only be available for an elite scorer, which the Oilers don’t have a surplus of. At just 25 years old, Dobson is a restricted free agent at the end of the season and won’t become an unrestricted free agent until the end of the 2026-27 season. He has a cap hit of $4 million.
Ilya Sorokin
Somehow, trading Ilya Sorokin is far less likely for the Islanders. His play has declined the past two seasons, going from a .924 save percentage and a 2.37 goals against average in 2021-22 and 2022-23 to a .908 save percentage and a 2.88 goals against average the past two seasons. So far this season Sorokin has a .908 save percentage and a 2.66 goals against average.
The Islanders probably wouldn’t want to trade him as he’s shown flashes of being elite in the past. If that isn’t enough, Sorokin has a full no-move clause, earning $8.25 million a season until the end of the 2031-32 season.
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