New York Islanders Seven Trade Worthy Power-Forwards

The Islanders need to add scoring to give the team a real chance to make a cup run. With fledgling franchise Las Vegas stealing assets in the expansion draft, Manager Garth Snow used a unique protection scheme (5 d-men, 3 forwards) and some bold backroom deals to protect almost all the pieces on his roster.

The Isles cleared some salary off the books recently through trades. The league added $2 million to the salary cap for next season as well. Islanders faithful hope manager Garth Snow will move more pieces and use this cap space to acquire another top-6 quality forward.

The Islanders management has been causing rumors around the NHL for weeks. After the expansion draft, they traded Ryan Strome for Jordan Eberle; with near unanimous support from their fandom. It seemed the team was trying to build for the here and now.

Then, two days later during the entry draft, Snow moved heart and soul player Travis Hamonic to Calgary for draft picks. But these picks don’t help the Islanders now when they need it.

Getting Hamonic’s name off the books does have an upside, however. It clears room to re-sign d-man Calvin de Haan, who will be getting a raise, while still leaving room to sign one more big name forward.

Most of the Isles forwards are skill players or grinders. Ladd and Lee are the only two talented power forwards so I think this is the player-type NY ought to pursue.

Acting as though this was Garth’s end-goal, I’ve assembled a list of potential trade candidates. The trade’s prices are high, but they might be worth it if it helps us make a deep playoff run.

Let’s dive in…