New York Islanders Three Trade Deadline Darkhorse Targets

Going into the trade deadline the New York Islanders are looking to add some quality up top. With big names players bandied about a lot what are some options that aren’t at the tip of every fans tongue?

We’ve gone through the season hoping that the New York Islanders land one of Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene, or Mark Stone. All three are highly touted point-per-game players entering free agency and likely on the move. Their teams will want to move them at the trade deadline rather than lose them for nothing.

It makes sense for any of the three to be linked to the New York Islanders. The one need the Islanders have is up top within their top six.

The Isles need more top end talent to round out their top six. They already have players like Mathew Barzal, Anders Lee, Josh Bailey, Brock Nelson, and technically Jordan Eberle.

Anthony Beauvillier should be a top six player, but with the way he’s played this season he hasn’t shown that quality. He’d be better off playing alongside Valtteri Filppula and Leo Komarov.

But getting any of them will come with a significant price. We all saw how much the New York Rangers got for Rick Nash at last year’s trade deadline. Nash used to be a great player, but by the time he was traded he was a shadow of his former self and still went for a first, seventh, a prospect, Matt Beleskey and Ryan Spooner.

(To be fair Beleskey was a salary dump.)

Assuming the price for any of the big names might be too high (partially driven by the sheer number of teams inquiring for their services) who else could the New York Islanders target who isn’t so widely talked about?