New York Islanders Lesson To Learn from Ryan Ellis Contract

On Tuesday the Nashville Predators signed defenseman Ryan Ellis to an eight-year $50 million deal. What can the New York Islanders learn from the deal? Not everyone needs trade protection.

The New York Islanders should look long and hard at the contract given by the Nashville Predators and signed by Ryan Ellis on Tuesday. The deal, worth $50 million over eight years has no trade protection what-so-ever.

By trade protection, I’m talking about no-move clauses, or no-trade clauses or even modified no-trade clauses. The Ryan Ellis deal doesn’t have a sniff of any.

In fact, look at the

Nashville Predators roster

and you’ll notice that only

Pekka Rinne

has any trade protection. That’s a stark difference from the New York Islanders who have four players with trade protection.

You Don’t Have To Give It

Andrew Ladd still has two years worth of a no-trade clause that turns into a 15 team no-trade list for the three remaining years of his deal. Johnny Boychuk is in the last year of his no-move clause before it turns into a modified no-trade clause (with eight team no-trade list) for the next three years.

Both deals were done by former GM Garth Snow. The Boychuk deal is much easier to justify. Along with Nick Leddy who was acquired on the same day four years ago completely reinvigorated the Islanders defense.

But it’s unbelievable to think that Andrew Ladd was worth $38.5 million over seven years, with the best trade protection I’ve ever seen. A no-move clause that turned into a no-trade clause, and finally morphs into a 15-team no-trade list in two seasons.

And new management isn’t free from blame in the trade protention blame game either.

Leo Komarov got a modified no-trade clause on his new four-year deal, and Valtteri Filppula earned himself a full no-move clause on his single year deal.

It’s clear that at the moment the New York Islanders aren’t as desirable a market as the Nashville Predators are. But still, was it necessary to give Komarov or Filppula trade protection? Absolutely not.

If anything, both players would have been perfect trade bait players for a retooling Islanders team.

The Islanders need to learn that even though they aren’t a “destination” in the NHL right now, they don’t have to give out trade protection like Oprah Winfrey giving out cars. Not everyone needs to get one.

They may have wanted Komarov and Filppula for the culture change their trying to create. But I doubt NHL teams were lining up to acquire their services. Again, it wasn’t necessary to give both players trade protection.

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The Islanders need to understand that they still have leverage in negotiations and they don’t have to give out trade protection in order to complete a deal. The Ellis deal shows that trade protection isn’t necessary.