Fence Sittin

Team: 2023-24 New York Islanders

Initial Creation Date: Mar. 6, 2024

Published: Mar. 6, 2024

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Islanders are in a weird spot at this deadline - clearly playing well and deserving of a show of support from upper management ever since the coaching change, but still on the outside of the playoffs as we get to the deadline. The goal should be finding ways to give this team a boost down the stretch without mortgaging any more of the future on a fairly shallow batch of trade targets.

First move: take those 1sts and 2nds you have left for the next few years, put em under lock and key. They don't exist as far as this deadline is concerned. There's just as good a shot that you're picking in the top 10 this summer as you are making it to the Cup final, so you can't touch those. No, Lou, no. No touch.

First move is gonna be on the "seller" side of the fence - Mike Reilly to the Avs for a conditional 4th. Smart GMs turn nothing into something, and turning a November waiver wire grab into a mid-round pick would be a good GM move.

Next move falls on the "buy" side - getting Anthony Duclair brings more speed into the top 6, in addition to a guy who's been a solid finisher in his career. As good as the Brock-Bo-Barzal line has been, this lets you slide Nelson back down to 2C while still having an offensive threat at LW1, and lets you push Pageau and Cizikas down to more appropriate spots in the lineup.

Third trade would also be more of a "buy" move - Colin Blackwell is one of those guys who just kinda fits everywhere you stick him, and I think he's a better 4C option than Kyle MacLean if you *want* to keep running Nelson-Horvat-Barzal as your top line. He's a guy you can cycle in and out as you need -sit him if you want more sandpaper, skate him if you want more speed. I always love a guy like this on a team trying to make the playoffs.

Last is another trade from an area where the Isles have some depth - Aho is probably out of the picture after his contract is up, and this lets you pair Bolduc with an (assumedly healthy) veteran in Bortuzzo. You're sheltering the hell out of this third pair, but I think it would be good to let Bolduc play through his mistakes and learn with a responsible hand skating next to him.

The most interesting thing to me is that this team is able to give you different looks after this trade. You can put Duclair and Barzal on the same line and just be off to the races, or you can have them on two separate lines and try and create mismatches. You can bring Matt Martin in for those heavyweight games against the Flyers and Rangers but leave him on the bench when you need more skill than sandpaper with Blackwell capable of sliding up. You can give Sam Bolduc the chance to learn on the job while still having an NHL-capable LD3 hanging around just in case things go south. Most importantly, no matter how this season pans out, you still have your 1st and 2nd rounder this summer to start restocking the farm system you've been plundering for years now.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.