Lane Lambert Year 2

Team: 2023-24 New York Islanders

Initial Creation Date: Sep. 13, 2022

Published: Sep. 13, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Starting with the disclaimer: this is all probably way too damn ambitious for Lou. But let's see if we can add some firepower to the Islanders in what will be Lane Lambert's 2nd season.

-RFA SIGNINGS-

-8x$9.5M for Barzal feels right, right? I think he's between $9-10M so I split the difference.
-Wahlstrom is a tough nut to crack, and obviously trying to figure out what his deal next summer will be depends a TON on what he does this year. I could see him getting a cheap deal if he struggles again; I could see him holding out for more if he pops off for 35 goals. 3x$3M feels like a safe middle of the road bet for him. Bellows is a lower value version of the same thing - I think he would have to do something crazy this year to get more than $1.5M and I don't think he's going to get enough opportunity to.

-UFA SIGNINGS-

-PASTA BABY. $9.5M AAV, give Boston an asset to get the UFA rights pre-July 1st so you can give him that 8th year to get the AAV lower. Boston feels like they're approaching a crossroads with an older core, so it's not impossible that they let Pastrnak walk and start prepping for a rebuild.

-Scott Mayfield is a great player but he's going to need a big deal, which probably winds up more than I'd want to pay an RD3. Justin Braun is one of a half-dozen guys you could get for around $1M to fill this spot, and I would also give serious consideration to giving Grant Hutton minutes here too.

-TRADES-

-Here's an asset to Boston for Pasta's UFA rights. Obviously there's room to play around here, but it'll probably be a mid-round pick and/or a lower tier prospect. Let's discuss.

-The one big casualty for signing Pasta will be Anthony Beauvillier - every other forward with a big cap hit has some sort of trade protection and/or has a lowered value (if we assume similar 2022-23 production compared to last year). Beau will have 1x$4.15M left on his deal and is a solid middle-6 player who has been good for 15-20 goals on some offensively challenged teams. Obviously, the Blues have signed some hefty contracts the past few weeks, but they're also potentially losing ROR, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Ivan Barbashev in UFA next summer. Beau will still only be 26 and can potentially replace some of that lost production. The Blues send back a struggling player without a home and a mid-round pick. Even if it's not St. Louis, I still look at this as the template of what I'd want to get back for Beau - a post-hype prospect that can possibly be a reclamation project and a 4th/5th round pick.

I think this team still has some holes but upgrading that RW from Wahlstrom-Palmieri-Bailey-Clutterbuck to Pastrnak-Wahlstrom-Palmieri-Clutterbuck is a big upgrade (ok, Clutterbuck's not ideal, but it's his walk year, so no big deal.) The only big name UFA you'll have going into summer 2024 will be Ilya Sorokin - and with Clutterbuck & Martin coming off the books ($3.25M in total) plus the anticipated bump in the cap ($4-5 million rumored!) you will have *more* than enough cash to keep Ilya happy.

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