Islanders: Tantilizing but unlikely possibility of trading away Andrew Ladd

In a piece exploring how the New York Islanders could acquire Mattias Janmark from the Chicago Blackhawks via trade, the Atheltic’s Arthur Staple and Scott Powers eventually mused at how the Isles could make a deal offloading Andrew Ladd to the LTIR rich Blackhawks.

You can read the piece here, it’s behind a paywall so you’ll need a subscription to read it.

Essentially, it seems that the rebuilding Hawks are looking to weaponize their significant cap space. With Jonathan Toews ($10.5 million), Brent Seabrook ($6.875 million), and a few more players on LTIR, they have cap space to burn.

Unlikely New York Islanders find a trade for Andrew Ladd

Having another NHL team eat up Andrew Ladd’s contract would be a great lifeline for the cap-strapped Islanders. Chicago also makes a ton of sense as a destination not only because of the incredible amount of LTIR cap space they have and their desired to weaponize it for picks and prospects but because of the link the player and club have.

Ladd played 203 games with the Blackhawks between 2007 and 2010 and again in 2015-16. He’s also got a Stanley Cup ring with Chicago from their 2010 championship.

That doesn’t seem like a big deal, but in hokey, connections matter. Ladd holds a 16-team no-trade list, the odds are pretty good that Chicago is not on that list.

But how much is Lou willing to give up to offload Ladd? There are two more years left with a $5.5 million cap hit on Ladd’s deal after this season. Offloading Ladd isn’t going to come cheap. Is the Islanders 2021 first-rounder in play to offload Ladd?

You’d almost think it would have to be. Ladd’s $4.425 million cap hit (after taking off that $1.075 million buried in the minors), is a big problem for the Isles and everyone knows it.

I have a hard time seeing Lou move yet another first-round pick in order to offload cap space. Don’t get me wrong, a $5.5 million cap dump would be very important for the Isles. But if Lou’s about to trade the Islanders 2021 first-rounder it’s certainly going to be in order to reinforce his squad for this season. Dealing with Ladd’s contract will have to come next year.

The Isles window is open, and Lou knows this if he’s going to trade his most valuable asset you’d have to think the return is going to help him and his team reach its goal this year. With Lee gone for the year he too has cap space to use, at least temporarily.

Lou is certainly going to try and offload Ladd, he’s been trying for a while now, but it’s probably going to wait until the offseason.