New York Islanders Should Make a Pitch for Drew Doughty

If the New York Islanders can only do one addition this off-season (of course John Tavares is the top priority) it would be to land a top defenseman. The Isles should make a pitch for Drew Doughty.

The New York Islanders struggled as a team defensively this past season. Improving the blue line with a proven top d-man should be one of the team’s top priorities this summer.

Kings

Why would the Los Angeles Kings trade Drew Doughty? That is a good question but believe it or not, under the right trade scenario, it very well could happen.

Doughty becomes an unrestricted free agent after next season. He turns 29 this December and it will probably take an annual number of $10 million to get him to sign a new contract. Doughty is after all one of the best defensemen in the game.

The question the Kings should ask is if the right offer was presented are they better off as organization moving forward by moving Doughty or signing him to a mega eight-year deal.

Keep in mind that Rob Blake is now running the Kings franchise. He didn’t draft Doughty nor was he the GM during LA’s Stanley Cup years. That was Dean Lombardi.

That could open the door for Blake to at least seriously listen to Doughty trade proposals.

Isles Pitch

The Isles have the assets to make LA seriously consider becoming trade partners. A package of Anders Lee and Nick Leddy could make LA think long and hard about moving Doughty to Long Island.

As shown in the first round of the playoffs, where the Kings got swept by the Vegas Golden Knights, they need offense. Lee who lit the lamp 40 times this past season (as well as 34 times the year before), would give the Kings the huge boost offensively that they desperately need.

While Leddy is not in Doughty’s class he is still a top-four defenseman, his -42 withstanding (keep in mind the year before he was just a -3). Both Lee and Leddy are just 27 years of age as well. Like Doughty, Lee is scheduled to become a UFA after next season (his cap hit next year is just $3.75 million). Leddy is signed for four more years at a reasonable cap hit of $5.5 million annually.

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Because of the fact that Doughty is set to hit the open market in a year’s time, trading one of their upcoming top first-round picks in this June’s draft would be a foolish move by the Isles. Having said that the Isles should thoroughly investigate landing LA’s number one defenseman.