Islanders potential lineup after Palmieri and Zajac trade

The trade is in! The New York Islanders have acquired Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac from the New Jersey Devils. If you didn’t see the terms of the trade, you can see what the Isles gave up for the two players.

The big thing on Islanders fan’s minds now is, where will both of these players fit in the lineup? Both of them are right-handed, which complicates things a little for the Isles. And Travis Zajac, who’s a center joins a team that’s already deep down the middle. How will Barry lineup his squad?

Here’s a very quick look at how that could work.

New York Islanders lineup with new acquisitions

I like looking at other people’s DIY projects on Reddit and one of the unwritten rules when submitting a photo dump of a project is finished product first. So here, is my tentative lineup for the Islanders with Palmieri and Zajac followed by an explanation:

Bailey-Barzal-Eberle
Beauvillier-Nelson-Palmieri
Zajac-Pageau-Wahlstrom
Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck

I have a hard time thinking Barry will play with three all righty lines. So I have Bailey playing up with Barzal and Eberle. It breaks apart that second line that has played so well recently, but Beauvillier can still be the engine that drives two 20+ goal scorers while Bailey can be a more effective version of Leo.

Yes, Josh isn’t the “crash-and-bang” type of guy that Leo is, but he’s a hell of a playmaker and passer.

Line three is all right-handers but it becomes a more solid line. Say what you will about Michael Dal Colle, Leo Komarov, and Ross Johnston, but Travis Zajac is a far better player. Zajac is a strong two-way guy who can play center and kill penalties while also scoring seven goals and 18 points.

And, of course, the fourth line stays the same.