New York Islanders did not win or lose on trade deadline – Hockey Writer – New York Islanders

The transaction deadline has passed, some teams have splashed trades, while others have made some minor additions. Lou Lamoriello did something he had never done during his tenure as General Manager of the New York Islanders (GM). He sold it…a little. He traded Brock Nelson to the Colorado Avalanche with a big move, which provided Islanders with two big items.

Related: Brock Nelson reflects the latest success of the Islanders

The deals are all from Lamoriello, and the last day of the last day is quiet. Lamoriello is typically taking the safest path at deadlines and free agents, and he only makes one trade to do that. He has no overhaul of the lineup, but he hasn’t “run backward” like this time of year. It puts islanders in a better position, but not a lot, and that ultimately is what makes this trade deadline feel like a driving force. Not a victory or loss, but somewhere in the middle.

Lamoriello gets strong returns in Nelson trade

The Islanders need young NHL ready players, prospects and future draft picks, and although they are a team that is not close to the competition, they lack all draft picks. So Lamoriello swapped Nelson for Calum Ritchie and first-round pick. The timeline for draft picks to help the team is unclear, but Ritchie is a prospect that can enter the NHL lineup as early as next season.

Nelson is an elite talent and multiple teams hope to get it by the deadline. That is, he won’t bring back significant traction. At most, the islander returned three items, at least, he brought back two. Ideally, the Islanders could have been the NHL ready player, but they were close to Ritchie, an elite forward in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).

The farm system is bad, and the American Hockey League (AHL) teams are historically bad as the Bridgeport Islanders have won 15 games this season. With Ritchie joining, the Islanders have some prospects with star potential, while Cole Eiserman is a first-round pick in 2024 and is also great at amateur level. It can make the islanders rebuild faster than expected.

Lamoriello holds Palmieri

The big knock on the Islanders and Lamoriello was that they kept Kyle Palmieri after trading Nelson. Palmieri’s return won’t be great, he wants to be with the islanders, but moving will help the big picture of the team. Even if they get a piece, it adds youth to the older team.

The Islanders want to re-sign Palmieri, an unrestricted free agent (UFA) after the season, and they may be able to do that while also retaining restricted free agents (RFA) Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov. This is not the point. The Islanders can’t keep fighting for the playoffs when they need to make young and change things. The deal for Nelson is the beginning, but Palmieri will make them a different team early next season.

Islanders otherwise stable deadline

For better or worse, the islanders did not tear off the things. Lamoriello could have moved Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau to two veterans in the 2026 offseason and added more assets to the team. He didn’t trade them, instead, people believe that the roster can still keep the team competitive.

The problem is that Lamoriello, while not doing the fire, did not take any big moves to increase the players. He could have had the hockey trade, just like the way Buffalo Sabers and the Ottawa Senators did with the Dylan Cozens and Josh Norris clearance (some extra pieces thrown in). Instead, Lamoriello kept the team together, minus Nelson.

The question is whether this is enough. Islanders are not enough to compete, and although they can make the playoffs, they can’t make the playoffs. They won’t get the highest draft pick in the first round, either. Being trapped in the middle is the worst time in the sport, with the Islanders having been in the middle for the past few seasons, with no way.

The way forward for the islanders

Despite the trade of Nelson, the Islanders still have a playoff path. Of course, losing elites will cause huge losses to the team, but they are running in the playoff team. The roster starts to return some key players, and with the excellent defense and elite goalkeepers of Ilya Sorokin, they can win many low-point games.

The bigger question is what the ceiling of this team is, not only this season, but next season. Even if everything goes well, they are a nice but not great team. They are not built to win cups, and the movements (or lack) they do have not changed.

The Boston Bruins may be criticized for trading Brad Marchander, Brandon Carlo, Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederick. However, they have at least rebuilt with all the debris they return to the deadline. The islanders need to reset, they only added two pieces to help with this. Lamoriello’s history shows that it may be worse, but it will be better, and that’s not the case.