New York Islanders Should Trade With The Lightning

Steven Stamkos will be remaining in Tampa Bay for the foreseeable future after signing an 8-year extension. The Lightning are going to have to clear up cap space so this is where the New York Islanders come in.

A few weeks ago I wrote how Garth Snow was going to have to make trades to improve the team. With Taylor Hall off the board the Islanders are going to have to go a different route. That’s why I want to revisit the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The new Stamkos contract is going to cause problems for the Lightning when it comes to cap space. They are going to have to move a piece in order to relieve themselves of potential cap issues.

Garth Snow is usually pretty good of helping teams out when it comes to their cap issues. Just two years ago he brought in Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk just before the season started. He could potentially do the same thing with the Lightning. 

The Options

What’s great is the Lightning have a few options the Islanders can trade for. We’ll start with the RFA’s this year Alex Killorn and Nikita Kucherov. Killorn had 14 goals during the regular season and 5 during the playoffs. He came up big for them in important spots.

Kucherov came at an extremely cheap price for the Lightning. He made just $700 thousand last season while putting up 30 goals. You can expect a pay day coming his way based off of his production.

Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat are both RFA’s next year. Johnson had a better 2014-2015 season than he did this past year but I still like his game. He’s only 5’8″ but he’s a dynamic player on the ice. At a $3.3 million cap hit next year his production is certainly worth that.

Palat also has a $3.3 million cap hit next year. He put up 16 goals this past year for Tampa Bay. He’s a creative player and a good two way player when healthy. He could possibly fit the bill for replacing Frans Nielsen.

The Prediction

I would be okay with the Islanders bringing in any of these options. The question of what they would have to give up is still unknown. I think Kucherov and Johnson are the better scoring options but I see Garth going either Palat or Killorn in this case.

The Lightning are going to have to move someone, I just think Palat and Killorn are more likely to be moved than Kucherov or Johnson. Johnson and Kucherov fit the description of a first liner for John Tavares.

Next: Top 5 Free Agents To Target

Palat and Killorn are more the replacing of Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen. Either way Garth Snow goes would be a good route in my eyes. I think the fans would rather see the dynamic scorers but Palat and Killorn are no slouches either.