New York Islanders Should Trade for Vegas Golden Knights William Karlsson

The Vegas Golden Knights need to make some tough decisions ahead. One is to find a new home for William Karlsson. The New York Islanders should open their doors.

It’s our offseason mission to try and find players the New York Islanders can acquire to increase their talent pool for the 2019-20 season. They’ve got a number of good players, but they absolutely need more. There are gaps in their top six that need addressing ASAP.

And that’s assuming they keep unrestricted free agents Brock Nelson, Anders Lee, and Jordan Eberle. If they don’t the talent gap grows for the Islanders.

They need to find quality top six players in order to compete and continue to make progress after this season. The Islanders have picks and assets that they can move for help today. Finding a trade partner shouldn’t be too hard. Finding a quality player in return will be harder.

William Karlsson

The Vegas Golden Knights are in a bit of a pinch. They’ve only been in the league for two years now, but they’re already hitting the cap ceiling. At the moment, the Golden Knights are currently $124,999 over the projected $83 million cap ceiling for the 2019-20 season.

And they have four RFAs and four UFAs to sign. One of those RFA’s is former 43 goal scorer William Karlsson.

Since becoming a Knight following the expansion draft, Karlsson has scored 67 goals and 134 points across two seasons in Vegas. He was an absolute gem of a find from under Columbus’ nose.

But because of that production, he’s owed an increase on the $5.25 million single year deal he signed last season. And Vegas just doesn’t seem to have the room to do so.

In steps Lou to give the Golden Knights an offer of picks and prospects (or just picks). The Golden Knights don’t need another cap burden right now, plus after trading players like Nick Suzuki and Erik Brannstrom recently, they could use top quality prospects for their system.

OR;

In scenarios two, the Knights get a number of picks and don’t have to worry about the cap ceiling. Either scenario is a great way to start the negotiation process.

In return, the Islanders get a player that’s due an upgrade on his last deal and is still under team control until next season, can score 40+ goals, and can play down the middle or on the left in the top six.

It’s the exact type of move the New York Islanders should be looking to make this offseason.