Islanders: Andrew Ladd To Taxi Squad & Leo Komarov Waived

Last night, we found out that the Islanders moved Andrew Ladd to the taxi squad. The Isles initially buried his contract in the minors but in order to make room for Dmytro Timasov and Otto Koivula in the minors, Ladd was moved to the taxi squad.

His $5.5 million cap hit becomes $4.425 million with his time on the taxi squad and he joins Thomas Hickey, Kieffer Bellows, and Austin Czarnik on that unit.

Since the start of the 2018-2019 season, Ladd has played just 30 regular-season games for the Islanders. He still has two years remaining on his deal at $5.5 million. Don’t expect to see Ladd promoted to the active roster any time soon.

This screams sitting on the taxi squad for the remainder of the season. As for Leo Komarov, the Islanders have placed him on waivers.

This is a paper transaction as it’s been 30 days since the last time he was waived. This allows him to go back to the taxi squad assuming he goes unclaimed. The chances another team picks him up with his $3 million cap number seems fairly unlikely.

Leo Komarov has played in six games for the Isles this season. He doesn’t have a point and he’s averaging 12:06 in ice time per game.

One would assume that when Anthony Beauvillier comes back, the Islanders will run lines similar to these:

Lee – Barzal – Eberle

Beauvillier – Nelson – Bailey

Dal Colle – Pageau – Wahlstrom

Martin – Cizikas – Clutterbuck

Leo Komarov could slot in for Michael Dal Colle or Oliver Wahlstrom but it’s been pretty abundantly clear that both MDC and Wahlstrom offer the Islanders more at this point than Leo Komarov.

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The Islanders’ next game is on Saturday evening against Boston. We’ll get a better idea as to what the plan is tomorrow morning.