New York Islanders Daily: Taking Advantage of Good Contracts

The New York Islanders have a handful of good contracts, which makes guys extremely affordable, they should take advantage of this over the next two years.

Lou Lamoriello has made some good signings so far for the New York Islanders. Yes, the Leo Komarov and Ross Johnston deals seem like headscratchers but he’s gotten some good value deals, especially in the short term.

Robin Lehner, the presumed starter, is making $1.5 million, Jan Kovar is making $2 million. Valtteri Filppula is coming in at $2.75 million, you have Mathew Barzal and Anthony Beauvillier on ELC’s and of course, you just signed Ryan Pulock and Devon Toews to a combined $2.7 million for the next two years.

With Brock Nelson as the only RFA who needs a new deal, the Isles have almost $15 million in cap space remaining. It allows them to take on a big contract, like an Erik Karlsson or Artemi Panarin.

It’d be hard to believe that Lou Lamoriello is done with this team, I don’t believe the Islanders will be heading into the 2018-2019 season with this many bottom six forwards.

The point is with so many cheaper contracts, the Isles still have the fifth-most cap space in the entire league. I don’t think the Isles would head into the season in the bottom five, they’re more likely to be towards the top than towards the bottom.

Over the next couple of years, the Isles need to take advantage of guys on their ELC and cheap deals and build around them with more expensive pieces. In Lou we trust.

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