Wahlstrom has 7 pts in his last 10 games and has singlehandedly improved the isles powerplay. He’s pretty much untouchable.

They don’t need to add a veteran center lol this trade makes the isles worse

I was just about to say, this definitely helps the Hawks. How exactly does this help the Islanders again?

It all depends on if you think you're a cup contender. Can you use that cap for the final piece? $5.5M in dead cap is rough. TOR spent a 1st on 1 year $6M. 2 years $5.5M. Entirely possible Wahlstrom is untouchable. He's a heck of a player. But the 1st and a lesser prospect (still good prospect just not untouchable) is likely the right price.

Throwing away first rounders and thinning out a already thin prospect pool, just to rid ourselves of a very bad contract isn't worth it at all. What you offered us back isn't going to get us any closer to the cup and will take up most of Ladds cap space anyways.

They can put lee on LTIR, they don't need to trade Ladd's contract.

I was gonna say the hawks do this in a heartbeat but the is;anders wouldn’t want to pay that price. IMO the first is the overkill in this trade.

I think Wahly is overkill

This would be a "go for the Cup" move for a Cup contender, the Isles. The benefit of this trade for the Isles is clearing cap space to pursue a Top 6 Forward or Top 4 Defender before the deadline and adding veteran playoff tested depth to their line up. Janmark helped get Dallas to the Stanley Cup Final last year. Soderberg is a big bodied center that can win face offs and can stand in front of the net on the power play to screen the goalie like he does on the Hawks. Anders Lee (12G, 7A) and Oliver Wahlstrom (6G, 5A) have combined for 30 points this season. Janmark (9G, 7A) and Soderberg (5G, 7A) have combined for 28 points this season. Plus, this trade along with Lee's move to LTIR clear some cap space to pursue a Top 6 Forward or or Top 4 Defender on an expiring contract with their 2021 1st round draft pick. Taylor Hall or whoever. The HUGE benefit is the Isles would be relieved from $5.5m in cap space for the next 2 seasons of the flat cap era after this.

I added the 1st round pick because Ladd's contract goes for 2 seasons after this at $5.5m per season and this could really hamstring the Hawks for resigning their RFAs in 2022. Kubalik AND Strome would probably have to be moved at the next deadline or before that to fit Ladd in for the final year of his deal. Wahlstrom would be a upgrade replacement for Kubalik and could play center if needed and the 1st round pick would be a great consolation for having to trade Strome who is also a 1st rounder.

Consider this: In the 2016 off season, while the Blackhawks were still a playoff team that hoped to compete for the Stanley Cup, they traded Teuvo Tervainen, a middle 1st round draft pick like Oliver Wahlstrom, to the Hurricanes on his ELC to just get rid of 1 year of Brian Bickell's $4m contract. Meanwhile, Ladd has 2 years left at $5.5m after this season on his contract. There's no way a team with cap space is taking on bad contracts in the next 3 years of the flat salary cap era without being handsomely rewarded for it with elite prospects and 1st round picks. The flexibility of cap space at this time is very valuable and in limited supply.

If you're a team in your Stanley Cup window, you trade away 1st round draft picks and elite prospects to acquire veteran depth and Top 6 Forward talent and Top 4 Defenseman talent to go for the Cup. The Blackhawks traded a 1st round draft pick to the Jets at the deadline to get Ladd for a playoff run before he signed his contract with the Islanders. The Blackhawks traded their young center prospect Phillip Danault to the Canadiens for 2 veteran Bottom 6 Wingers with chemistry, Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann, to make a Cup run. The Blackhawks traded a 1st round draft pick and their defensive prospect, Klas Dahlbeck, to the Coyotes for Antoine Vermette and they won the Cup. It doesn't always result in a Stanley Cup but an organization should throw everything at the opportunity to win a Cup when the window is there because there are about 6 legit contenders for the Cup every season and only 1 team can win it. Then, that Cup window passes the other teams by and you don't want to be the San Jose Sharks.

See that is true about Tervainen but I’m thinking about how we don’t have any other great forward prospects and with the way Wahly is playing he is going to be on the second maybe even first line within the next two years

The Hurricanes top line this season before Teravainen was injured was: Andrei Svechnikov - Sebastian Aho - Teuvo Teravainen. When the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2015, Teuvo was playing on the 3rd line with Antoine Vermette because the Hawks were that deep with a Top 6 of: Saad-Toews-Hossa and Sharp-Richards-Kane. When Saad was traded to Columbus, Teuvo moved to the top line with Toews and Hossa and the 2nd line became Panarin-Anisimov-Kane because Panarin was signed and Anisimov was acquired in the Saad trade.

My point is Teravainen is exactly comparable to Wahlstrom down to their middle of the 1st round draft position. Blackhawks fans hate that he isn't on the Hawks but would rather have 3 Stanley Cups to show for it.

Also, the Blackhawks didn't have elite forward prospects when they were chasing Cups either because they drafted mostly defensemen, traded away their 1st round picks, or traded away their elite forward prospects to be cap compliant. If your team isn't sacrificing its future to win the Stanley Cup now, your GM isn't doing his job right because that's what it takes to win. It's the only way any team is going to beat the Lightning. There is no "we need this guy for the future" when you're competing for the Cup. That's something that teams who are going to let their Cup window slip by do.

They can't put Lee on LTIR next season when he's recovered from his injury but they still need to get under the salary cap that isn't going to increase for a couple more years. They're going to have to trade Ladd's contract or another player making similar money eventually.

They can trade Leddy or varlamov. They’re fine

You are straight up delusional. Wahlstrom has been our best player over the last month. Better than barzal. Is a GM doing his job right if he trades his best player mid season to dump a contract ?

No, a GM is doing their job right if they acquire 2 veteran players like Carl Soderberg and Mattias Janmark from the Blackhawks on expiring contracts with similar production to Anders Lee and Oliver Wahlstrom while also dumping a very bad contract (Andrew Ladd) so that he can make another deadline deal to acquire other players on expiring contracts like Eric Staal and/or Taylor Hall from Buffalo or Kyle Palmieri from New Jersey to fill out 4 deep lines. Also, consider this, Soderberg (5G, 7A) and Janmark (10G, 8A) currently have better stats this season than Staal (3G, 7A) and Hall (2G, 14A) respectively and Janmark has better stats than Palmieri. Janmark has scored on all 4 lines at even strength, scored on the power play, had primary assists on the power play, and scored shorthanded on the penalty kill and went to the Stanley Cup Final with Dallas last year.

hahahah soderberg is trash and Wahlstrom is better than Janmark. Both Janmark and soderberg have below average underlying numbers.

I don't think you understand that the islanders do not need to trade ladd. They can trade leddy (5.5 mill) and varlamov (5 mill) for draft picks. That frees up 10.5 mill in cap space.

Do you know what the Blackhawks had to give up to be cap compliant in years when they were stuck and had to make a trade and all the other teams knew it? It's going to be painful. Prepare yourself.

did you know that Nick Leddy is on pace for 53 pts (82 game season) and only has 1 year left on his contract? I have a feeling there will be multiple teams interested. Did you know that Semyon Varlamov 3rd is in the vezina conversation and has 2 years left after this season at a very reasonable 5 mill AAV. It looks like the isles won't have any trouble becoming cap complaint this offseason.