As a Jets fan I love that Islanders trade.

The Oilers trade not so much cause RNH has the same term left as Buff, would rather get picks/prospects for Buff.

Edmonton doesn't make that trade

I would say it’s too late for both, I would have traded wheeler last summer, before the resign, and ride buffy to the bitter end. I’m more for the build to be moved to jets drafted players and scheifele to take the reigns and see where he can lead them, little and pearrault contracts, one or the other should be moved out soon, little probably worth more to jets than anyone else though

Sure, either or, the point I am making is the Jets need to move on from those older players. Or they stand to lose younger players with more treads on the tires and a longer window of contention. I look at their roster and see a suspect defence, a huge hole at centre and elite wings. On top of that they do have some bad contracts that they should move. Kulikov isn't even a problem in my eyes, its Wheeler and Buff who are on the wrong side of 30 with term.

Moving Buff for RNH is a huge upgrade at 2C for an aging defenceman who isn't that great in his own end anyways.

Get some good young players in return and you can have a great blueline and better depth in a couple of years. Still with a tonne of time left in Schiefele's window.

It doesn't have to be Edmonton, I just used them as an example. Anyone who wants to upgrade their blue line's offense and is aiming to be a contender would be suitable. I didn't put a tonne of thought into where Wheeler or Buff would go but am more making the point that they should be traded.

Islanders may be a playoff team, but I don’t think they’re ready to make that kinda of move though. That said, perhaps it could work with a different team.

If the Jets trade Byfuglien, their defense is even more shallow than it is now. I wouldn’t take it that far yet.

Wheelers contract could be bad. But byfuglien only having 2 years left wouldnt worry me. I would be more worried about overpaying laine.

Those two I'd move as well, Little more so than Pearualt, the main point is they have a lot of great young pieces that are hard to fit in, because they are paying the older pieces too much. Send out the older guys while they still have value, get more young pieces and be a power house in 2 years. That is what I would do. I thought 2017-2018 the Jets peaked and last year wasn't just a bad year but a sign of things to come, they have holes they can't afford to fill because they have money being spent in areas they need to save several millions. Take a step back and then regroup quickly. They are poised to do that better than most.

If you are going to do a retool, you go the whole way, a small step is going to sap any value Buff has. Wait 2 a little longer and he could lose a step and then his value plummets. From a passing fan of the Jets, I don't hold loyalty to any player, I just want them to succeed as a team and right now I have no clue how they are going to fit the likes of Laine and Connor into the teams pay structure. Even if they do, their defence is weak and their centre ice is weak. Those are two major holes that you can't win without. Make a couple trades, maybe miss the playoffs this year but come back next season with a stronger club that will only get stronger in the coming years. The current structure I think will only get worse.

I understand your thoughts, I just think it maybe interesting transition when the whole league knows your up against the cap, and the fanbase is starving for a winner, and Maurice doesn’t survive a rebuild or retool and Chevy might be making moves for the next gm also, so tough spot for a big move or two

As an isles fan no

In my mind, if Chevy went out and did the retool, it shows he's a forward thinker. Teams get to a point when you look at them and think they have some gas left in the tank but their nitrous is empty and there are no spare tires, so even though the engine is still pretty powerful, its getting old and it won't get better without an overhaul. The Jets for a good number of seasons had good pieces in Wheeler and Buff and their supporting cast but it wasn't enough to get over the hump or even into the playoffs. A couple of bad years and they got skill and young players who they could build around and then gave big extension to older players. I think right now they have an opportunity to do a quick retool and have a stronger team that Schiefele will be able to lead to the promised land.

The other option is moving young assets like Elhers or Laine to create cap space and plug holes. Those are trades I think they will lose.

Where do we sign?

The islanders would be buying high on wheeler and he’s 33 years old with 5 years left on his contract. They already have their core players in their late 20s who have contracts that take them into their mid 30s. Isles will need guys like Wilde and wahlstrom to produce on ELC to balance things out especially with barzal and pulock entering contract years. No way isles do this.

I wouldn't be so sure, I am not sure Lou understands people age. I was so happy when they told him Dubas was going to be taking over. He is a great GM and does a lot of things right but he's also not showing he understands exactly where the game is going.

I get that’s the new narrative certain fans like to push - “the game has passed him by” ...I have no problem with the moves he’s made since joining the islanders besides komarov (which is front loaded so it can easily be bought out) - but making this trade is reckless and would hurt the team as soon as next summer (barzal,toews, pulock up for new contracts ) - he’s not giving away two A prospects for that. No GM would do that - Maybe he’d do it if WPG took a guy like josh bailey (5 mill cap hit) with wahlstrom Not included in the trade.

The Islanders aren't a young team, and after losing Tavares, should have embraced a rebuild. Trying to build a team with a bunch of high priced late 20 and early 30 year old's doesn't work. They played over their heads last year and very well could come crashing down to earth. Its not going to be a fun time in the near future for the Islanders. Going all in may be their only chance.

Your opinion seems more subjective because youre a leafs fan, I’m sure you also believed they would be a bottom 5 team last season. Everyone used PDO as an excuse to why the islanders put up 103 pts, even though the leafs were the only team to have a higher PDO. I can also make the argument that Kyle dubas wasn’t prepared with the task of building a defense that is capable of making it to the Stanley cup after signing Tavares. Tavares is an elite center but he’s getting older (and slower) and your cup window should be to go for it within the next 3 years but instead you have a soft defense comprised of two elite soft puck moving defenseman that are basically “dwingers” half defense half wingers. “Its not going to be a fun time for the islanders in the near future” - yes it’s not fun having the best defense (and one of the youngest) in the NHL adding one of the best D prospects in Noah Dobson this season.

Just comes back spitting fire.

Dubas did the best with what he's had to work with. I think this off season is when he really put his mark on the team. The defence is definitely capable of winning the cup. They are right there with Tampa as the deepest team in the NHL and have great goaltending. The one thing that could hold them back is Babcock who has to either grow as a coach or get fired.

Also I am assuming you are calling Rielly a dwinger, if so that is a joke in itself. He's far better defensively than anyone gives him credit for, mainly because he scores so many points. It'd also help if he had a partner that didn't suck as much as Hainsey did last year. Barrie though, yeah he's all offense and not the best in his zone but that's okay, he'll never be asked to play against the oppositions best.

Buffy could be moved at the TDL to a team itching for a physical presence and/or a RHD. Moving him now I think you lose some leverage. I agree with your concept though. The Jets are at a fork in the road and could really hurt themselves if they make the wrong moves.

Cody Ceci is going to be playing top 4 minutes - that is not ideal. Leafs are missing a top pairing shutdown RD. Sure, they are as deep as Tampa offensively, on defense definitely not. Hedman, Sergachev, mcdonagh, cernak > reilly, barrie, muzzin, dermott and it's not even close when taking into account their overall play. The leafs ceiling is probably a 2nd round exit, unless they make that big trade for a RD. They still can't beat Boston and I don't like their chances against Tampa in a 7 game series. The game is changing and getting faster, but as we saw in this years playoffs, size and grit is still needed (Boston, STL, SJS, CAR) , and Toronto might have one of the softest forward groups in the NHL with the loss of kadri.

Yeah I get your point and have been saying the same thing.
Just think I'd rather move Buff for something other then RNH.

So this response is coming across as an Islanders fan wanting the Leafs to fail because he's jilted about JT leaving. The point of this post is Winnipeg, not the Islanders or the Leafs. So we are way off topic. The point, Winnipeg should move the old guys.

Underscored, italicized, and in bold print.

Agreed.