Top Shelf – Islanders Daily 1/16/14

Dec 31, 2013; Dallas, TX, USA; Los Angeles Kings goalie

(54) defends against the Dallas Stars attack during the game at the American Airlines Center. The Stars defeated the Kings 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

There was big news in the NHL yesterday, and much to the chagrin of New York Islanders fans, it wasn’t about their team.

The Edmonton Oilers made headlines by trading former no. 14 overall draft pick G Devan Dubnyk to the Nashville Predators for F Matt Hendricks, then turning around and sending a third round pick to the Los Angeles Kings for G Ben Scrivens.

While the Oilers were making noise out on the west coast, Isles fans were making plenty of it back here in the east. When the Scrivens trade was reported, the news that it only required a third rounder to pry him away from the Kings sparked riots around the Twittersphere.

As was to be expected.

There’s no need to analyze a trade before any of the players involved have even put on their new teams’ jerseys, but it seems important to note that no one trade is ever identical to one that could have happened had it involved another team.

So to say that all Islanders general manager Garth Snow had to do was offer his counterpart, Kings’ GM Dean Lombardi, a third round pick and the Isles would have been able to acquire Scrivens isn’t necessarily correct.

And perhaps, Snow didn’t pull the trigger on a trade for Scrivens because he’s waiting for certain other unrestricted free agent goalies to become available this summer without the need to give anything up in order to get them in an Islanders jerseys.

Just some food for thought…

-MW (@MichaelWillhoft)

In Case You Missed It

Islanders Send Strome Back To Bridgeport (Eyes On Isles)

Isles Tweets Of The Week (Eyes On Isles)

Transcript: Isles Chat With Arthur Staple (Newsday)

Reiter Excited For New Islanders Contract (TribLive)

NHL Begins Setting Up Hockey Rink At Yankee Stadium (NY Post)

Last Night In The NHL

Sabres 3
Maple Leafs 4 (SO)

Capitals 3
Penguins 4

Canucks 1
Ducks 9

Across The Sound

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers (14-20-1-4) aren’t making up much ground in the standings, but their luck might be about to change with the appearance of Ryan Strome back in a Sound Tigers sweater.

The Islanders loaned Strome to Bridgeport Wednesday in order to comply with an NHL memo stating that players who participated in 15-or-more of the 20 games preceding the 2014 Olympic break would not be able to be reassigned to the AHL.

It’s not the worst thing in the world to have Strome back at the Bridge, where he can increase his confidence against the competition he had so thoroughly been dominating until his NHL call-up earlier this season.

As always, thanks for reading Eyes On Isles. Keep it right here for all your New York Islanders news, notes and analysis.