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According to our friends at CapFriendly, the Islanders will have $6,287,000 in cap space available, but when you remove forward Julien Gauthier, who is currently on the roster and likely won’t be on the 23-man roster in October, it really gives Lamoriello just more than 7 million dollars to play.
That cap number gives Lamoriello enough to re-sign RFAs Simon Holmstrom and Kyle MacLean, but if he’s going to make a big addition to help this Islanders team get back to the level they were at during their back-to-back appearances in the conference finals, he will have to get rid of a contract.
Moving Pageau’s $5 million cap hit or Lee’s $7 million cap hit, both with two years left, would go a long way toward restructuring the roster by injecting some more skill into the lineup.
That being said, let’s look at some potential targets available this offseason via UFA/Trades:
Free agent targets
Teuvo Teräväinen – With Don Wadell departing for the Columbus Blue Jackets organization, new interim general manager Eric Tulsky will have his hands full as the Canes have many key free agents in need of new contracts, one of which is this 29-year-old Finnish forward.
Teravainen is coming off a campaign in which he scored 25 goals and 53 points in 76 games. He is not the high-end sniper that most Islanders fans have been clamoring for, but he is a good facilitator and can score over 25 goals and 60 points. He can also play on both the left and right wing.
Adding Teravainen would allow head coach Patrick Roy to deploy him on the top line alongside Bo Horvat and Mat Barzal, who had a rotating door of linemates on that left side that saw the season and playoffs end with the grinder and the Casey Cizikas nature center filling that. role. Signing Teravainen and putting him in that spot would give the Islanders a more well-rounded and skilled top line.
Victor Arvidsson – In a season that limited Arvidsson to just 18 games due to injury, the 31-year-old showed he can still play a viable role in a team’s top six, as he scored six goals and added nine assists for 15 points in those 18 games. While the Los Angeles Kings could opt to bring him back, Arvidsson plans to test the UFA market on July 1.
What could make Arvidsson attractive to the Islanders is that he probably won’t break the bank considering he missed so much time last season. However, when he is healthy, Arvidsson has shown that he can score 30+ goals twice in his career and also reached the 60 point mark twice. With a larger role on the Islanders’ top line with Barzal and Horvat, he could very well match the career-high of 34 goals he reached with Nashville in 2018-19. He wouldn’t be the sexiest UFA signing, but for a player looking to prove his worth it could be a win for both sides in the short term.
Tyler Toffoli – Aside from Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault, no pending UFA scored more goals than Toffoli last season. After being traded from the New Jersey Devils to the Winnipeg Jets before the trade deadline, Toffoli scored seven goals for the Jets after the trade, raising his season total to 33.
Toffoli is certainly the proven scorer the Islanders were looking for, scoring 34 goals for the Flames the previous year in the 2022-23 campaign. While he has already been linked to some of his former teams in the Kings, Vancouver Canucks and even the New Jersey Devils, it is possible that Lamoriello could approach Toffoli’s camp about returning to the East.
Jonathan Marchessault – TFP’s David Pagnotta recently reported that original misfit Marchessault and his camp have yet to have formal discussions about pursuing an extension, but Vegas has made it clear that they would like to retain him and Marchessault himself has expressed his desire to stay. Although talks are expected to begin in about a week, if the two sides cannot reach an agreement before the market opens, it is possible that the Islanders will contact Pat Brisson, Marchessault’s agent, about their interest in coming. . to Long Island.
Islanders head coach Patrick Roy coached Marchessault for four seasons in the QMJHL from 2007 to 2011. While Marchessault, who will turn 34 in December, doesn’t make the Islanders any younger, he would certainly provide the scoring punch that they need the alignment so much. He scored a career-high 42 goals last season for Las Vegas and while he may not repeat that next year, there’s no doubt he would give the Islanders a very dangerous front line with Barzal and Horvat.
Business objectives
Nikolaj Ehlers – The Winnipeg Jets are expected to make some changes this offseason and one of them is potentially trading their speedy Danish winger. The 28-year-old has one year left on his contract with a $6 million cap hit and it appears he will have a new home next season.
The fairly injury-prone Ehlers played in all 82 games this season for Winnipeg, scoring 25 goals and 61 points. Ehlers is a very fast and skilled winger who, in addition to putting the puck in the net, is a good facilitator, accumulating 36 assists, the second most of his career. There has been speculation that the Jets might want a top-4 defenseman in exchange for Ehlers, as Brenden Dillon and Dylan DeMelo are pending UFA and may not return, leaving only Neal Pionk, Nate Schmidt and youngster Dylan Samberg under contract behind his number one defenseman. in Josh Morrissey. Lamoriello doesn’t feel like moving either Ryan Pulock or Adam Pelech, but it’s possible Ehlers could be targeted with a team’s first-round pick, something Lamoriello hasn’t hesitated to move in the past.
Martin Necas – Shortly after the Hurricanes’ second-round playoff elimination at the hands of the New York Rangers, Necas’ father raised eyebrows when he spoke very candidly about Necas wanting a change of scenery and noted that his son would like to go. somewhere to play. a bigger role in the form of a bigger role and more power play time.
Certainly, on a team like the Islanders he would get all of that and would meet many requirements for the Islanders in the form of age, speed, skill and dynamism, but the cost will be high and there will be no shortage of suitors for Necas as more than a dozen teams will investigate. Necas is a pending RFA and his next contract could be upwards of $7 million to $7.5 million annually long-term.
Mitch Marner – While the Toronto Maple Leafs have not yet approached Marner about waiving their no-movement clause and reportedly prefer to stay, Marner’s name is still at the top of all trade board lists for this summer as the potentially available big fish. If Marner and Toronto do indeed agree to part ways this summer, the list of teams Marner will likely resign from won’t be long. While we don’t know if the Islanders would be a team Marner would resign from, it’s possible that Lamoriello would reach out to his former team and ask him.
Lamoriello did not Draft Marner, but took over as Maple Leafs general manager in July 2015, a month after Marner was selected fourth overall. Aside from the three years Lamoriello spent with Marner in Toronto, it was rumored in 2019, when Marner was an RFA, that Lamoriello, who became the Islanders’ general manager, was interested in Marner.
It’s extremely unlikely that Lamoriello will offer Noah Dobson or Ilya Sorokin in exchange for Marner, so it’s hard to see a path forward any other way. However, this likely won’t stop Lamoriello from at least engaging in talks. Lamoriello has shown that he is willing to make changes to acquire that big fish, as he tried to keep John Tavares on the Island after his contract expired and expressed great interest in signing the likes of Artemi Panarin, Johnny Gaudreau and Nazem Kadri. in the past.
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