Team: 2021-22 New York Islanders

Initial Creation Date: Jul. 27, 2021

Published: Jul. 27, 2021

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Priority 1: Sign a 2nd pairing left shooting defenseman.

Suter would fit the bill here, and while Dallas is the frontrunner for him, I feel like a team more in Cup contention could do something to entice Suter.

Priority 2: Acquire a Top Line Winger.

Isles have been connected to both Landeskog and Tarasenko. If the price is right, they can let Palmieri walk and take the rest of the offseason to offload Hickey and/or Komarov. If no such winger is available, we resign Palmieri and give either him or Wahlstrom a chance to be Barzal’s RW. This might not be the worst thing; that cap space could still be weaponiszed later this year at the TDL.

Priority 3: Avoid signing the next Ladd.

I’ve heard rumors that the Isles are linked to Saad. While Saad had some good years on other teams, he’s very beat up now and seems like a 40 point player. Problem is, he’ll want 50-60 point player money. The Isles HAVE to avoid Saad unless he’s willing to take on a 3rd line winger role and get paid like it. I’ll also say guys like Suter and Tarasenko have the potential to become awful contracts if Lou isn’t careful. We just lost a lot of assets to clear dead cap weight. Lou has to be careful to avoid falling back into that trap.

All in all, Lou has his work cut out for him. But given all he’s done to clear cap space, one has to assume he has a plan in mind.