The New York Islanders had a very normal, average 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas. They arrived with six picks and made them all. President/general manager Lou Lamoriello didn’t make any other moves before he headed back to Long Island for Monday’s start of free agency.
With a team still loaded down with long-term contracts and over-30 core players, though, was normal and average the way to go? The Isles leave Vegas with just $5.81 million in salary cap space for 2024-25, less than all but three teams. When you factor in potential long-term injured reserve candidates for the Capitals, Golden Knights and Flyers, however, the Isles have the least cap space of any team.
Advertisement
Maybe if these Islanders were coming off a season in which they got close to a Stanley Cup Final or had a younger team on the rise, you could see how Lamoriello might be patient. And he did make a big move five months ago by hiring coach Patrick Roy, which jolted the Islanders to life and helped their play improve enough over the final 37 games to squeak into the playoffs, where they were promptly dispatched by the Carolina Hurricanes in five games.
And there is still time to make alterations. Sunday is the last day for buyouts, so Lamoriello could throw a curveball and move on from one of his veteran forwards that way.
Anders Lee was the strongest candidate for a buyout, but the circumstantial evidence says he’s not going anywhere — Lee was in Vegas to receive the King Clancy Trophy and went on stage at Sphere to make the Isles’ first-round pick on Friday night. Probably not the actions of someone who’s on alert to be let go after 11 seasons, six as captain.
Pretty much the entire rest of the Isles’ current roster is in Italy for Ryan Pulock’s wedding — if you follow any of them or their partners on social media, you’d also know that The Chainsmokers performed at the pre-wedding party. Perhaps someone in attendance could be on the move before Monday at noon — J-G Pageau remains the most obvious choice to be traded — but Lamoriello is giving no hints.
“It’s not something we’re going to rush into,” Lamoriello told reporters after the draft on Saturday. “We’re committed to winning. That’s the bottom line.”
If there are no big moves, the Isles are even taking their time on the smaller ones. Mike Reilly seemed sure to be brought back after the Isles’ season ended. The door hasn’t closed, but a league source said Reilly may be looking for a bigger payday than the Isles can offer, even though the 30-year-old seemed to find a home under Roy after the Isles claimed him off waivers from the Panthers in November.
Advertisement
The Islanders still need a low-cost sixth defenseman. If it’s not Reilly, they could look at Erik Gustafsson, who had a decent season with the Rangers for just $825,000. Gustafsson had been looking for a bigger payday last summer before taking close to the veteran minimum, a journey Reilly may find himself on when the market opens Monday.
Lamoriello said he’s had conversations with longtime Islanders Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck, but nothing’s done with either one. The GM said the Islanders will be giving Oliver Wahlstrom a qualifying offer on Sunday and won’t be handing him away for nothing, but Wahlstrom’s future with the Isles still looks awfully cloudy. And assistant coach Doug Houda, who ran the defense and the league’s worst penalty kill, was let go, with a replacement to be announced soon.
These are all moves of a sort, minor though they may be. And the addition of draft pick Cole Eiserman at No. 20 on Friday is promising; the Islanders haven’t had a first-round pick to show off since 2019 and not one with Eiserman’s pedigree since, well, Wahlstrom, who was picked 11th in 2018 in the first Islanders draft under Lamoriello after falling a bit due to concerns about a one-dimensional profile.
Eiserman, like Wahlstrom, is headed to college (Boston University rather than Boston College) to sharpen his game. So is his U.S. National Team Development Program linemate Kamil Bednarik, whom the Islanders took at No. 61 with the extra pick they got from the Chicago Blackhawks in a pick-swap trade last month. Jay Pandolfo, the longtime New Jersey Devil and brief Islander who played for Lamoriello for a decade in New Jersey, may be the most important development coach around this organization, even though he coaches BU.
The Isles prospect pool certainly needed refreshing, and the team making all its picks in Vegas, while a bit of a surprise, is a welcome development, at least in a narrow view. Lamoriello may not be in charge anymore when Eiserman or Jesse Pulkkinen, the 6-foot-6, 219-pound defenseman taken at No. 54, finally arrive on the Island, but the Islanders still need viable prospects.
Advertisement
But you cannot have watched this team the last three seasons and believe that staying the course with its personnel is the best bet right now. Bo Horvat was a masterstroke addition, but that was 18 months ago. If Lamoriello ultimately moves on from Clutterbuck and Martin, no one will argue, even though fans may shed a tear or two at the end of the Identity Line. But keeping one or both or finding a low-cost replacement is not what’s going to change this team’s fortunes.
Even sending Pageau off won’t make the Islanders real players on Monday, but they can at least take a few swings at adding the top-six wing they very much need. Jonathan Marchessault, Tyler Toffoli, Anthony Duclair and Viktor Arvidsson are all available, plus a few others. None of those wingers makes the Islanders any younger but can make the Islanders better.
Roy has a full offseason to strategize. Ilya Sorokin will be back motivated to erase a miserable end to his 2023-24 season, and the Isles’ elite goalie playing at an elite level will go a long way towards making this team better. But more change is needed. And time is growing short.
(Photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
