New York Islanders Three Trade Targets from Arizona Coyotes

Oliver Ekman-Larsson | D

Production: 42pts (14G, 28A)

He’s the Arizona Coyotes best players. It’s not even close. And he’s been their best player for years. With all the top tier picks the Coyotes have made, you’d think that one of them would have stepped up to give Ekman-Larsson some support.

The question becomes, are the Arizona Coyotes willing to part with their best player, considering they don’t have an equally good one coming up through the system? The answer is that they might not have a choice.

OEL is in the last year of his contract. After which he becomes an unrestricted free agent. And according to one TSN insider, the cost to keep OEL might just be too great for the Coyotes.

"He’s [OEL] not an unrestricted free agent yet, but Arizona wants to lock him up and they’re presenting the max in term at eights year, and their offer, I’m told, was around $8 million. I can tell you this: That’s not going to get it done. He’s not going to stay with the Arizona Coyotes at that ticket, unless there’s a change of heart or a change of position."

Ekman-Larsson would immediately become the Islanders second best defenseman behind Nick Leddy. He’s just as skilled and could be even more productive than Leddy when you consider the forwards he gets to play with compared to what Arizona is currently dishing out.

Clayton Keller seems like he’s going to be a great player. But that’s one player. The New York Islanders have John Tavares and Mathew Barzal just up the middle. Add in Anders Lee, Josh Bailey, Anthony Beauvillier and Jordan Eberle and OEL would have six 20-40 goal scorers to help him.