Another trade deadline passed while the Islanders stood pat.
In a move (or lack thereof) that has become commonplace in the tenure of general manager Garth Snow, the Islanders chose not to part with any assets and kept the team intact while they remain on the periphery of the playoff picture.
The most attractive option that Snow inquired about was Avalanche winger Matt Duchene, but the asking price out of Colorado remained confusingly high — so high they chose not to move Duchene or captain Gabriel Landeskog. Either one would have fit the Isles’ need for the ever-absent top-line winger alongside John Tavares, but talks never resulted in action.
Then Snow tried to pawn off goalie Jaroslav Halak, whiling away with AHL Bridgeport since he cleared waivers around New Year’s, along with his $4.5 million salary-cap hit for next season (and an actual-money salary of $5 million). It was reported Snow didn’t want to absorb too large a portion of his salary, so Halak was never moved and now is a prime candidate to be bought out this summer (in which case the Islanders still would be eating half the salary) unless he can find a new trade partner.
Snow did leave a paper trail miles long, incessantly bringing players up and down from Bridgeport over the past two days for the sake of having them practice with the team and also be eligible for the AHL playoffs. Now three games into a franchise-record nine-game road trip, it looks as if prized prospect Josh Ho-Sang will make his NHL debut Thursday night in Dallas.
Devils keep stockpiling picks
New Jersey GM Ray Shero seemingly accepted his team’s fate as a postseason outsider and sold off what he could while preparing for the future.
Shero traded forward P.A. Parenteau to the Predators in exchange for a sixth-round pick in 2017, a return that likely would have been more if the former Ranger and Islander weren’t suffering from a finger injury. That pick gave the Devils 11 selections in this coming draft, including one first-rounder, two seconds, two thirds and two fourths.
Shero also sent pending unrestricted free-agent defenseman Kyle Quincey to the Blue Jackets in exchange for another defenseman, Dalton Prout, who has one more year left on his two-year, $3.15 million deal and can be exposed in June’s expansion draft.
Rangers’ minor-league swap
The Blueshirts made one small deal before the deadline closed, acquiring former Islanders forward Taylor Beck from the Oilers in exchange for forward Justin Fontaine.
Notables
- Former Islanders captain Mark Streit was traded from the Flyers to the Lightning and then from the Lightning to the Penguins.
- Former Rangers defenseman Dylan McIlrath was traded from the Panthers to the Red Wings.