Potential options for the Islanders to clear up salary cap space
Arthur Staple of The Athletic: (mailbag) New York Islanders defenseman Sebastian Aho could start next season back in Sweden. It’s possible he could sign there long-term. It is hard to see how he cracks the Islanders roster. He hasn’t really gotten a shot in the past two years.
Of the larger contracts the Islanders have, defenseman Nick Leddy may be their best trade chip. With teams knowing the Islanders may want to move him to shed his salary, the return may not be as high as they had hoped. Could they get a second-round pick for him if multiple teams are interested? Two seconds? Maybe the Buffalo Sabres or Detroit Red Wings would be interested.
Could see Oliver Wahlstrom being loaned to a Swedish League team and coming back when the NHL/AHL resume.
It’s not likely that someone would trade for Semyon Varlamov and the three years he has left when you could maybe sign Robin Lehner for possibly three years at $5 million per.
Can’t see any team sending an offer sheet to pending RFA Mathew Barzal.
If the Islanders can find the salary cap space, could see them looking for a top-six winger.
When looking to move salary out, it would be Leddy, then maybe Johnny Boychuk and if they get desperate, maybe Josh Bailey.
It would take quite the sweetener for the Islanders to move Andrew Ladd. Would maybe take a 2021 first-round pick.
If they have a salary cap room, could see them sending an offer to defenseman Andy Greene. He may not get many contract offers and he may not want to leave the New York area.
Rangers should try to sign Strome and DeAngelo to short-term deals
Larry Brooks of the NY Post: New York Rangers’ second-line center Ryan Strome is a pending RFA with arbitration rights. The play of third-line center Filip Chytil during playoffs could impact Strome’s future as well. Strome has played well with Artemi Panarin, but is it mostly because of Panarin’s ability?
Some think the Rangers should trade Strome as opposed to giving him a long-term deal in the $5.5 million per season range. The Rangers may have to go around $10 million a season for Mika Zibanejad after 2021-22, so they may need to keep that in mind.
If Chytil doesn’t have a good showing, the Rangers may want to try Strome on a one-year deal, either through negotiation or arbitration.
Anthony DeAngelo is another pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights the Rangers are going to have to deal with. A solid playoff will increase his asking price but would also increase his trade value.
Signing DeAngelo to a long-term deal only makes sense if they move him to the left side. They already have Adam Fox and Jacob Trouba on the right, as well as prospect Nils Lundkvist in the pipeline.
Lundkvist is a year away, so if they trade DeAngelo, they’d need to find a third-pairing right-handed defenseman.
DeAngelo on a one-year negotiated or arbitrated deal could be the route to go.