except he just got a second for taking on like 3m of salary from tampa for 1 year?

You might get it from the Buffalo fans, lol. Montour (right shot) and Reilly (left shot) are the same style of players, but one is worth a bit more than the other.

Doesnt make sense for the isles.

You just added a second trade, Ladd is a very bad contract to take, I mean , bad bad bad, and BTW, it's really bad. Hickey's contract is just bad bad, not bad bad bad.

Ladd - $5.5MM for three years for an AHL player
Hickey - $2.5MM for two years for an AHL player
a measly 3rd round pick

Zaitsev - $4.5MM for four years for a guy who can actually play 20 minutes a night in the NHL

Two AHL players and $8MM in cap relief, and a 3rd for a 20+ minute a night NHL defenceman doesn't make sense? Probably the absolute worst homer take ever on capfriendly

Zaitsev is one of the worst defenseman in the league. The isles do not need the cap space right now. Next summer they can buyout hickey and ladd will likely end up on LTIR sooner than later.

J cuz Zaitsev can play 20 minutes a night doesn’t mean he can do it well

Check this site out, copy paste it

https://public.tableau.com/shared/NQDHFK79M?:display_count=y&:origin=viz_share_link&howVizHome=no

Change the fwd to def to access the defence names, then type in Zaitsev. Now look in the bottom box, those first three graph lines are because Ottawa wasn't a very good offensive team, although he had pretty good first assists, but the bottom four are why he's not a bad defenceman. The 82 in the toi vs elite means he faces the toughest competition in the 82 percentile, or he's among the 18% most used defencemen against the leagues best players. The % icetime of 95 means, he's among the top 5% most used defenceman, in the league. Those two graph lines means he has to play well every time he steps on the ice. Last season he played a lot with Chabot, so he had a higher % for teammate as well. The 41 means he takes more draws in the def zone, but he's basically going on the ice no matter where the other teams best players are starting from.

On the other side, put Zaitsev again, and change it to 18/19

Check my next post

I know what Zaitsevs underlying numbers look like, and they are brutal. There’s also no spot for him in the lineup, he would be the 8D.

So you know that NHL coaches play Zaitsev as much as other first pair defencemen, against the best in the league? Did you think he would have great numbers doing that? Is he making $9MM-$11MM a season? Play Hickey in those situations, LMAO. This is pointless, your mind is closed to the obvious in front of you. Enjoy Ladd and Hickey, I'll take Zaitsev over them every day.

If a defenseman plays top pairing minutes and has terrible underlying numbers, he shouldn’t be playing top pairing minutes. I don’t care if coaches trust him.

Hickey will be in the AHL. The isles have pulock, Dobson, and mayfield on the right side.

Ahhhh buffalo wouldn't give montour away for free, so your description is well off of reality. And no way would they trade montour for Reilly

"shouldn’t be playing top pairing minutes. I don’t care if coaches trust him"

Another member of the, fan knows more than NHL coaches, club

I know Hickey will be in the AHL, and so will Ladd. The NHL won't let them put him on LTIR, but at least it's only $5.85MM in cap, and not the full $8MM.

no from BUF and not even really close

and he traded a better 2nd for a cap dump.

Plus he traded picks for Gudbranson, Zaitsev and Watson.

i mean yeah but he legit just weaponized capspace. not saying those were good trades but obvsiously he knows how to do it.

I know a lot of Islander fans don’t like this Zaitsev deal but personally I like it.

The Islanders Core is aging. Nelson, Eberle, Bailey, Lee all reaching 30. I’d take the cap relief now to get offensive help next offseason or at trade deadline. Plus I think Lou likes Zaitsev and with a D-Partner like Mayfield we might be able to see Zaitsev play a little more offensively like he did his first year in Toronto, plus the Trotz structure may help him too. Yes he has a long deal but the extra 4 mil in cap relief can really help next offseason.

And for Ottawa, I don’t think Hickey is cooked, I think he has NHL games left in him and could be a good hardworking veteran presence for a young Ottawa team.

Good luck with Ladd though.