The New York Islanders should wait until they’re completely out of before considering moving Kyle Palmieri and/or Brock Nelson
The Fourth Period: David Pagnotta and Dennis Bernstein on the New York Islanders and could they start looking to move some veteran players.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Kate Pettersen: “They’ve given up 33, third period goals this season. They’re on the outside looking in, not in the playoff mix. So if this continues to be the trend for them, are they looking at moving some vets? Would Brock Nelson or Kyle Palmieri be available?”
Pagnotta: “They’re both having good seasons. Palmieri is kind of at the top of the list with this team in terms of their offense and leads them in scoring right now. Brock Nelson doing his job as well. They’re both on expiring contracts. They also have 16 team no-trade clauses in each of their deals.
Now my understanding is, and it’s depending who you talk to, because it’s really tough to get stuff out of the Island with Lou. But I don’t believe they’ve had any serious negotiations yet on contract extensions with either player.
They may wait to see how this kind of plays out before they explore that option, and they’re likely to wait until they explore any trade possibilities. But there are teams that are looking to upgrade themselves offensively later in the season, and both of these guys are going to be targets.
They’ve got decent cap hits for their production. Nelson plays the center, so he’s going to be on on a target list for a number of teams. One team I kind of wonder about is Toronto, with the Lou connection there.
But we’ll see kind of how things develop. This isn’t anything imminent, but both of these guys, if the Islanders are on the outside looking in, they’re going to be on the radars of a few clubs.”
Bernstein: “And here’s how bad it is on the Island. Like, they’ve given up only 33 Kate in the third period, they’ve given up four in overtime. They’ve lost four overtime games. So that’s 37 goals after the second period they’ve given up, and they’ve given up 26 in the first two periods combined.
So yeah, you could trade these guys, but you’re so bad defensively and you can’t find a way to win. Like the Red Wings, the Red Wings are 2-8 after second, trailing after two. The two games they won against the Islanders, right?
So, yeah, you could trade Brock Nelson. You could trade (Kyle) Palmieri. I assume that (Mathew) Barzal is going to come back, so he’s going to help the offense. But it’s not really about the offense.
Here’s the thing, what are the Islanders? Are they Pretenders? Are you, Are you now, if you’re going to trade these two players, you’re saying, ‘Okay, we’re not a playoff team. We’re selling the farm. It’s time to rebuild, right?’
I’m not sure they’re ready to do that yet, because in the middle of these conferences are so weak right now. They’re not really great teams. They could be in it. So I think you’d have to wait. I again, you talk about having immediate action in Colorado, Kate, Island I would wait. I would wait and see how this team plays till, you know, maybe a couple of weeks before the trade deadline, and then have serious conversations about a Palmieri, a Brock Nelson, and that will really determine the future of this team over the next two to three years.”