New York Islanders: Valtteri Filppula Signs With Detriot

The New York Islanders lost their third line center, Valtteri Filppula, to the Detroit Red Wings on a two-year $6 million deal.

So far, it’s been a very disappointing day for the New York Islanders. They missed out on Artemi Panarin, after offering him more money, and in the process, they also lost their third line center, Valtteri Filppula.

Filppula signed a two-year $6 million deal with the Detroit Red Wings today, returning to the team where he started his career. Filppula was drafted by Detroit in 2002 and made his NHL debut with the team during the 2005-2006 season.

He played there through his age 28 season, playing in 483 games with 251 points (100 goals, 151 assists). He was a part of their 2008 Stanley Cup winning team and is highly regarded by that organization.

The deal comes on the heels on a very productive season for the Islanders. He had 31 points (17 goals, 14 assists) in 72 games. His efforts on the third line were great, but it’s not really all that surprising that he left.

The Isles were swinging for the fences and didn’t want to spend the money on a bottom six player, which I’m completly for at this point. For Filppula, he should fill in nicely on the Red Wings third line.

Oddly enough he will be united with the rich man’s version of himself, Frans Nielsen. Ideally, Nielsen is a third line player but he might slide up to the second line so that Filppula can play his more natural position.

Islanders fans called Val Filppula “Weird Frans” and now the two of them will be playing on the same team. It’s funny how these things can work out sometimes.

From the Islanders perspective, they are likely best suited bumping Casey Cizikas up to the third line and having one of Leo Komarov, Tanner Fritz, or Tom Kuhnhackl center the fourth line. Based on Cizikas’ production last year, he should be able to handle the bigger role.