Team: 2023-24 New York Islanders

Initial Creation Date: May 3, 2023

Published: May 7, 2023

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Trades
NSH- with Trotz taking over as GM he gets a player that he really like with a 1 year 5m cap hit and only 3.5m in real money along with a young NHL ready player who also fits Barry’s profile (great defensively, active stick with some scoring upside).
SEA- could be any team, Martin was decent this year and with 1 year at 1.5 left some team will want him.
LAK- this could also be any team that needs a bottom 4 LHD who is very slippery but also very small. Other teams that came to mind are CAR (but we don’t want that chaos) FLA (bc they need cheap dmen) or maybe TBL (another team that could use a cheap reliable dman).
PIT- this deal is modeled after the Brent Burns deal with some changes. Obviously this is assuming that new Pittsburgh management wants to tear it down and also that he will waive for NYI. He would be 1 year younger than when Burns got traded but would have an extra year on his contract. We would be taking on slightly more cap than CAR (just under 1m a year) and PIT would not have to retain any money unlike Burns (~2.75m/year). However Burns did not have as good a season in the year pre trade but also hasn’t played as many minutes as Burns has. Then comes the division rivals tax as opposed to SJS to CAR. I don’t really know what his market might look like especially when you consider how many teams he’d waive for so I took a stab at it.

Free Agents
Zach Parise (1x800k)- idk if he’s going to take one last run at a cup on LI but if he does I’m assuming it will be for league minimum just like the last couple years.
Engvall (4x3m)- he played very well with Palmieri and Nelson but idk how big his market will be. I also don’t think Lou brought him in as a rental and I expect to see a number in this range.
Varlamov (2x2m)- another guy who loves it here on the island and isn’t going anywhere else. Idk if he’d want a multi year deal but once again right around this number is what I’d expect (unless he does a Parise and takes league minimum).
Gurianov (2x1.5m)- a dude that loves to shoot and skates really well idk if he’d be available and idk if he’d want to come here but we need a cheap winger to play with 13/14 and he fits the profile. Other options could include Duclair with a 3rd team retaining, Iskhakov if we wanna go internal or if it’s a surprise unqualified free agent (like Sonny Milano last year).
Parker Wotherspoon (2x800k)- or any depth defenseman.
Sam Bolduc (2x800k)- pretty self explanatory coming off an ELC without having already made a big impact.
Oliver Wahlstrom (2x1.4m)- a high upside goal scorer who hasn’t yet found a way to score consistently coming off a big injury and who despite his potential seems to be disliked by multiple coaches.

Line Combos
Gurianov/Horvat/Barzal- this line with Lee at LW really struggled and as much as they were split up at times against CAR Barzy and Horvat had great chemistry when the trade first happened and hopefully with a full training camp they get that back.
Engvall/Nelson/Palmieri- if it ain’t broke don’t fix it
Parise/Pageau/Wahlstrom- some people will want to see wahly on the 1st line but he has been very inconsistent and especially coming back from a big injury I’d want him to be with linemates he’s comfortable with that work together. Pageau and Parise work with basically any RW and wahlstrom brings an offensive skill set that they don’t really have.
Lee/Cizikas/Fasching- the identity line was hemmed in for most of last season, Casey isn’t going anywhere but we replace both wings with guys who can add least add an offensive element that this line hasn’t seen in years. The physicality will quiet down a little but it isn’t like Lee and Fasching don’t hit.
Pelech/Pulock- the defense is a lot more fluid for me than the forwards. Pelech had a rough year this year so putting him back with Pulock is something I would like. They have great chemistry and can handle any top line in the league.
Romanov/Letang- this is as good a 2nd pair as there is, and they can operate really well in all 3 zones. Romanov has really improved defensively and Letang is great at both ends of the ice.
Bolduc/Dobson- this pair would be sheltered at 5v5. Alternatively we could run something like 3/8 28/6 Bolduc/Letang.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.