Islanders: Possible return in a Nick Leddy trade

Nick Leddy is on the trade block for the New York Islanders. For the second straight year, the Isles are shopping a left-handed puck-moving defenseman in order to create cap space.

The ideal return in a Nick Leddy trade is moving that $5.5 million cap space. But, Lou Lamoriello isn’t going to take future considerations in return for Leddy. There’s going to be something coming back to the Island. So what could the return look like?

What New York Islanders could expect in return for Nick Leddy

We have to get one thing clear, the return for the Islanders won’t be the two second-round picks that they acquired from the Colorado Avalanche in return for Devon Toews.

But that’s not to say that the return for Leddy won’t be future considerations either. Leddy is coming off a strong year where he put up 31 points in 55 games. That’s 45 points over a full year. His career-high is 46 from 2016-17. And look he won’t turn 30 until March.

Nick Leddy is still young and has shown he can still be that 40-50 point player from the blueline. He’s got a lot to offer for a team that eventually brings him in. He’s also got a single year left on his contract*, something that can absolutely be flipped at the trade deadline if things go South for the team that acquires him.

(*That contract pays him $7 million this year. Which is a lot.)

So what’s the return for the Islanders?

Consider that 38-year-old Duncan Keith just returned a bottom pair NHL defenseman and a third-round pick at the 2021 draft. And while Keith brings more intangibles to the table than Leddy, Leddy has a ton more tangibles. Case and point his production last year.

So a good return would certainly be a B-level prospect and a 2nd round pick. That pick could certainly go lower considering how everyone knows the Isles are in a tough spot with the cap and how desperate Lou Lamoriello is to keep this core together for another run at the Stanley Cup.