Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on the 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – And Then There Were Two (Canadian Teams) episode, on the New York Islanders need a scorer. They need to get young players to push for jobs. Do Brock Nelson and Noah Dobson get extensions?
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “A lot of the Islanders best players are locked up and have protection. And to be honest, you’re not looking to trade like a Noah Dobson or a Matt Barzel or, or a Bo Horvat or any of those guys anyway.
The thing I really think they have to do is they need to get a scorer. We’ve talked about this a billion times. They need an infusion of youth, like just around the organization. Like they, right now they just don’t have enough people pushing for jobs. And that is something they really need to improve on, is just the amount of young players like we just talked about Toronto. They have, you know, (Fraser) Minten and (Easton) Cowan coming now and they’re going to be pushing for jobs. The Islanders don’t have those guys, and they need to start finding more of those guys.
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And, you know, to me, you know, one of the other decisions they’ve got to make, now remember last time they didn’t sign Brock Nelson until just until after they finished their season, his UFA year. So they don’t really seem to be too worried about waiting.
That’s, but you know, yes, you could get a lot for Nelson in a trade. There’s no question. However, I also look at it this way, Brock Nelson loves the Islanders and cares a lot about the Islanders. And he still got a lot of hockey left. If you’re making that deal, you better make sure that there is a tangible benefit to making that deal. Because (a) you’re taking someone out who really cares about your team and you’re creating a big hole in your roster.
So again, it’s kind of like I just talked about Nylander last summer with the Leafs. Like I guess you could do it the same way I talked about Marner, you make the trade knowing you’re going to lose it potentially. But again, I, I don’t know. I think Toronto will consider that possibility, I’m not convinced the Islanders are going to be willing to consider that possibility.”
Marek: “Well, one quick thought on the Islanders here too. And as you’ve mentioned before, and we’ve talked about, the one thing downwinders do and they identify their talent, their key piece they locked them up long term. Noah Dobson is eligible for an extension on July 1st.
He’s got one more year at $4 million. I don’t know what that bump looks like. I’ve heard as high as eight times eight for someone like Noah Dobson. Do you think Lou takes his time or when you look at you know what Noah Dobson brings, which is unique to anyone else on that blue line, do they look to lock them up July one?
Friedman: “Well, I think you always look to lock them up as early as possible. You know, it’s the old line, players like that never get less expensive. The price is only going up. So I’m sure they’re going to be looking to lock them up right away.
I mean, the Islanders have this way of and also don’t forget in a year, it’s not like he’s a UFA. He’s an RFA.”
Marek: “He’s an RFA with arbitration rights. Yes.”‘
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Friedman: “Yes.”
Marek: “I don’t think (they) want it to get anywhere near there though.”
Friedman: “No, you don’t want that. You want to lock up people for as long as you can as soon as you can. So I’m sure they will try. I have no doubt they will try.”