On the New York Islanders …
Craig Custance of ESPN: Looking at three areas of focus for Islanders GM Garth Snow this offseason.
- Trade Travis Hamonic – He’s a valuable part of the Islanders, but if he still wants to be closer to home, they should move him. The Islanders likely asked the Oilers for Darnell Nurse during their first talks. The Oilers would likely want to send Jordan Eberle to the Islanders, who may need someone like Eberle if Kyle Okposo leaves in free agency. Maybe the Jets and Islanders could do a Hamonic for Jacob Trouba deal.
- Replace Kyle Okposo – the Islanders are not expected to give Okposo the money he could get on the open market. Michael Dal Colle and Josh Ho-Sang could be options to place Okposo. The player they get in a Hamonic deal could also fill the hole.
- Re-sign Frans Nielsen – the Islanders need to sign Nielsen to a long-term deal. Nielsen does so much for the Islanders, and he wants to stay. He’s 32-years old, so they can’t go to crazy with term
Joe McDonald of ESPN: With the Islanders eliminated from the playoffs, defenseman Travis Hamonic may have played his last game for the Islanders. Hamonic when asked about his future after the game yesterday.
“I love being an Islander, more than anything. It’s one of the best things I do in my life,” he said. “It was a pretty cool feeling in Game 6 (winning the series against the Florida Panthers) and I’m glad we had a chance to do that in front of our fans. They’ve supported us throughout the whole season. Sorry, it just sucks. … I’m really confident in our group. This is pretty frustrating.
“It’s a bad feeling. You battle all year; you want a chance to win the Cup. You get to this moment and you don’t want to go out in the second round, so about as good of an answer I can give you.”
Coach Jack Capuano when asked about Hamonic’s situation.
“He’s a guy I’ve been around for a long time. I don’t know what the situation is with Travis,” Capuano said. “That’ll be a situation for Garth, who has a great relationship with our players and Travis. They’ll talk about that moving forward, but I don’t necessarily think that right now we’re thinking that Travis is not going to be with us next year. I mean, I don’t know that so I can’t really comment on it.”