Eyes On Isles
Fansided

Islanders And The NHL Trade & Free Agency Stalemate

By Matt O'Leary

Apr 19, 2018; Columbus, OH, USA; A view of an official game puck with the Stanley Cup logo prior to the Washington Capitals against the Columbus Blue Jackets in game four of the first round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 19, 2018; Columbus, OH, USA; A view of an official game puck with the Stanley Cup logo prior to the Washington Capitals against the Columbus Blue Jackets in game four of the first round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

It’s been quiet for the Islanders and the NHL as they try to figure out their plan for the 2020-2021 season. Just how quiet has it been?

If you’re an Islanders fan or just a hockey fan in general, you are probably itching for some sort of news. Last week, we found out about Johnny Boychuk’s career-ending injury but there hasn’t been a free agent signing or trade in forever it feels like.

The Islanders made two out of the last three trades in the NHL by the way. Yes, the Devon Toews trade and Kyle Burroughs trades back in October were some of the most recent trades. Nate Schmidt going to Vegas for a third, which was significantly worse than the Toews trade by the way, was the last NHL trade made and that was October 12.

It’s been 48 days since the last trade. In an offseason, doesn’t that seem bizarre? That’s not all, free agency has been absolutely dead.

Sure, the Isles re-signed Ryan Pulock and you have guys like Mikhail Sergachev and Jake DeBrusk re-signing but the UFA market has been bone dry. The last UFA that signed was Michael Haley on November 13. That’s 16 days ago.

So we’ve gone over half a month without a free agent signing and going on two months without a trade. If you want to get even more nuts, once the calendar flipped to November we’ve only seen four UFA signings.

Essentially, my point is that it’s not just the Isles who have been quiet. With so much uncertainty about when things are going to start back up the market for just about everything has been nonexistent.

Want your voice heard? Join the Eyes On Isles team!

Write for us!

I can’t remember a time when it was this bad, but is there anything more 2020 than uncertainty and weird things that we’ve never seen before? I guess we’re just on par for everything else in this crazy year.

Home/Editorials