New Boot Goofin with Uncle Lou and Those Wacky Isles

Team: 2022-23 New York Islanders

Initial Creation Date: Apr. 6, 2022

Published: Apr. 6, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Wanted to try something a little bit different from the usual Islander trades floating around ACGM. It's two names that have been floated as potential guys to move a ton, but a different spin than I've seen around these parts.

First - this is Lou's beloved "hockey trade". Varlamov with a single year of retention goes to Minnesota in exchange for Dmitry Kulikov. Minnesota has Jonas Brodin, Alex Goligoski, and Jon Merrill already signed as LHD next year, in addition to having Jacob Middleton's RFA rights, so they're moving from a position of strength. Fleury is a UFA this summer, and will most likely be able to command more than $2.5M on the open market, so the Islanders swoop in with a goalie with a good amount of playoff success in an almost completely cap-neutral trade. Kulikov fills in the hole the Islanders have at LD2 at an affordable AAV.

The second trade will probably get me roasted to bits, but hear me out!!! Josh Bailey has had some proven success playing on John Tavares' wing in the past, and would fit in much better in a more offensively-oriented system. Isles eat an extra $2.5M for 2 seasons, sure, but it's cheaper than a buyout and frees up an extra spot on their top 9. As far as Toronto, Bailey can step in and play middle-6 wing and PP2 and basically cost 2x$2.5M - very affordable considering his production (I could see him being a 55-60 point guy on TML). Toronto sends back one of their mid-range prospects (I picked Hollowell, but I'm not married to him) and a mid-round pick for the retention.

As far as the signings!

-Dobson 4x$6M? I dunno? I think he's probably worth more on the open market but I also wonder if there's an artificial ceiling to his AAV since Pulock is nominally RD1. I think there's room to move around with those numbers.

Valeri Nichushkin is an interesting guy to me - I wonder if he gets lost in the shuffle as a UFA this summer, with the bigger names like Forsberg and Gaudreau sucking up all the air. He's been a strong play driver with the Avs this year across his different linemates, so you've got to give him some credit, and he's been showing a good scoring touch this year. I think if you zero in on him July 1 you might be able to get him at an affordable 4x$4M. Could be totally off on that, though.

Wedgewood has been okay playing behind some bad teams this year, but he's mostly a placeholder. There's a few goalies that will be available around that $1.5M AAV this summer, so take your pick. I like him, though, so let's see if he can be coached up to be a stud in the Greco/Korn/Trotz system.

Lastly,Bellows comes back on a $900K-$1M deal, in that range, and gets a shot to prove his worth as LW3. A lot of the other organizational depth UFAs/RFAs come back on low dollar deals to fill out the depth charts. Gave Hutton 2 years so you can give him some run and see if he's a late bloomer that can take over RD3 from Scott Mayfield in 23-24, kept Koivula & Czarnik around as versatile forwards that can fill in across the ice, and Greene is a reliable hand for 7th D. These are all fungible dudes and if you want to put different names next to those salaries, go for it - but I could see Lou bringing them back for familiarity's sake.

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