Islanders: Under The Radar Trade Target

How The Islanders can solve an issue in the top-six. Lou Lamoriello would be wise to inquire about David Perron from the St. Louis Blues.

Kyle Palmieri and Patrik Laine are names that often come up in trades but the Islanders may have to go in a different direction when navigating the trade market. Those are the two big names, but there’s an intriguing under the radar option I’d like to talk about today.

Let’s look at the St. Louis Blues for right now. The Blues have zero cap space right now, according to CapFriendly, and still have to sign RFA Vince Dunn. Dunn is 23-years-old, and has been a solid producer from the blue line over the last two years.

He had 12 goals and 25 points in 2018-2019 and last year had 9 goals and 23 points which over a full season paces out to 27 points and 10 goals. A double-digit goal threat from the blue line is likely to get some decent money.

Bleedin’ Blue is projecting a contract with a $4 million to $4.5 million AAV for Dunn which to me seems pretty spot on. Like most teams, the Blues are going to have to clear cap, and this is where the Isles can come in.

The player I would like to target is David Perron. Perron is 32 years old and on the hook for two more seasons at $4 million against the cap. That alone should free up the space for a Dunn extension.

Here’s what a potential trade for Perron can look like for the Isles and Blues:

The Blues are getting a second-round pick, something they don’t have in next year’s draft, and a prospect who could be pretty close to being NHL ready at this point. As for the Islanders, they get two years of control of Perron at $4 million.

Perron is a right-handed shot who put up 25 goals last year including nine on the power play. He has 16 goals on the power play over the last two years, the highest amount of power play goals over the last two years for the Islanders is Anders Lee with 12.

The Islanders would still need to clear out cap space, including attaching draft picks to the likes of Johnny Boychuk and Leo Komarov for future considerations also seems necessary. A team like the Devils who have $18 million in cap space could be a good fit for both of them along with the 2022 second-rounders and maybe a 2021 pick as well to hold them over for a year.

Additionally, burying Thomas Hickey’s contract and putting Andrew Ladd to LTIR gives the Islanders the means necessary to sign Ryan Pulock and Mathew Barzal along with bringing back Matt Martin and Andy Greene. After all is said and done they would have somewhere between $3 million and $3.5 million in cap space.

Lineup

Lee – Barzal – Perron

Beauvillier – Nelson – Eberle

Bailey – Pageau – Wahlstrom

Martin – Cizikas – Clutterbuck

Pelech – Pulock

Leddy – Mayfield

Greene – Dobson

Varlamov/Sorok

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Now that’s a much better looking lineup. I don’t know about you, but I’d certainly signup for a lineup like this going into 2020-2021.