New York Islanders GM Must Make Trades To Improve Team

New York Islanders GM Garth Snow is going to have a busy summer. He’ll have to dip into free agency and maybe have to make another big trade in order to improve this team.

The New York Islanders are no longer in a rebuilding phase. The Islanders are trying to take that next step in order to be a cup contender. Although I do believe it’s necessary for the Islanders to spend money in free agency, they are going to have to use the trade market to their advantage too.

Just two years ago Garth Snow made two big moves right before the season started. He traded for Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy. These trades were huge moves for the Islanders. It strengthened up a previously weak blue line.

The Islanders should look to do something similar this year. Arthur Staple looked at 12 players that the Islanders could potentially trade for in the offseason. In his article Staple brings up Alex Killorn as a potential trade target for the Islanders. 

If the Lightning want to bring back Steven Stamkos it’s going to be hard for them to do so within the salary cap. Somehow the Tampa Bay Lightning are going to have to free up room to make it work. This is when Garth swoops in.

The Lightning’s situation is similar to that of both the Blackhawks and Bruins when Garth made those two trades to bring in Leddy and Boychuk.

Don’t Always Leave it to Youth

While the Islanders are a team with young talent, they can’t necessarily wait for all of these young players to develop. They are going to have to move some players to bring in some big names.

The ultimate goal has to be getting John Tavares a winger. In order to do so, the Islanders may have to move Brock Nelson, Matthew Barzal or Michael Dal Colle to get that first line talent to Brooklyn.

Last summer many criticized Garth for sitting on his hands and not making any moves to immediately impact the team. He was putting faith in a lot of younger guys to take the next step. Guys like Nelson, Strome and Lee became stagnant in their growth or even took a step back this year.

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Garth cannot make the same mistakes this summer. It’s time for him to spend some money, but he’s also going to have to come up with a good trade as well. We’ve seen him pull it off in the past, he can do it again.