The New York Islanders will need to shed salary if they want to add a top-six forward
Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News: Last year at the NHL draft, New York Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello sent a second-round pick and Josh Bailey to the Chicago Blackhawks to get his $5 million off their books. Is Lamoriello setting up to make the same type of move again this year?
The Islanders need some extra cap space as they only have about $7 million and that’s not enough to add a top-six forward this offseason.
Teams know the Islanders want to move money and it will take at least a second-round pick to move some of their salaries. Anders Lee has two years left at $7 million with a full no-trade that turns to a 15-team no-trade clause on July 1st. Jean-Gabriel Pageau has two years left at $5 million and a 16-team no-trade clause.
NHL Rumors: The New York Islanders Are Not Done Dealing
It will likely take a second-round pick plus something else to be able to move either Lee or Pageau. The Islanders have two second-round picks.
It’s not easy to predict the trade value of Linus Ullmark
Jimmy Murphy of Boston Hockey Now: Determining the trade value for a goaltender like Linus Ullmark is not easy to predict. An NHL executive:
“You take that, and you look at his stats this past season too, and obviously you’d think that he could get the Bruins a first-round pick at least, but that’s not always true.”
Ullmark won the Vezina Trophy in 2022-23 with a 40-6-1 record, 1.89 GAA and a .938 save percentage. He followed it up last season with a 22-10-7 record, 2.57 GAA and a .915 save percentage. He’s got a year left at $5 million.
Big named goalies don’t get traded often. Marc-Andre Fleury has been trade twice recently and he only netted prospect Mikael Hakkarainen (a former fifth-round pick in one deal and a late second-round pick in another.
NHL Rumors: Boston Bruins, and the Toronto Maple Leafs
There was one rumor recently out there of the Ottawa Senators sending Jakob Chychyrun and a first-round pick for Ullmark. Elliotte Friedman said the Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes talked about Ullmark with Friedman not knowing if Martin Necas was involved in those talks. Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub said Sweeney will be looking for a first-round pick or something of similar value.