Islanders 3 takeaways from roster going into expansion roster freeze

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Lou Lamoriello of the New York Islanders (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

NHL rosters are officially frozen for a few days. What can we take away from the New York Islanders roster now that it’s frozen?

It is now 3 PM ET. That means NHL rosters are now frozen until July 22. The New York Islanders can now only enter into a trade with the Seattle Kraken for expansion draft considerations. But otherwise, their roster is stuck for the next few days.

They can’t trade anyone away and they can’t waive anyone. The players they have now are the players they’ll keep through the expansion draft process.

The Islanders protected list is due to the NHL and NHLPA by 5 PM ET today where the league and union will review the lists to make sure they are compliant with the various expansion draft requirements.

The Kraken will get the lists tomorrow at 10 AM (even though they’re trying to get an early jump on things). The public will likely see these protected lists shortly afterward.

But now that the rosters are frozen as the expansion draft looms (July 21 is the date of the actual draft), what can we learn from the Islanders current roster? What does this mean for the expansion draft? Can we figure out anything from what Lou Lamoriello and the Isles did (or didn’t do) leading up to the roster freeze?

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 06: Scott Mayfield #24, Ryan Pulock #6 and Thomas Greiss #1 of the New York Islanders defend the net against the Los Angeles Kings during the third period at the Barclays Center on February 06, 2020 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The Islanders defeated the Kings 5-3. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Protected List

The Islanders are likely to go the 7-3-1 protect route for the expansion draft. Based on the current roster that means:

Forwards (7)

Mathew Barzal
Anders Lee
Jordan Eberle
Anthony Beauvillier
Jean-Gabriel Pageau
Josh Bailey
Brock Nelson

Defensemen (3)

Adam Pelech
Ryan Pulock
????

Goalie (1)

Semyon Varlamov

There isn’t much question who the New York Islanders will protect from their forward core. We can all agree on most of the names on this list. Perhaps Jordan Eberle is left exposed but it’s just as likely that Lou keeps the veteran winger.

Either way, there isn’t much debate or drama with the forwards or even with the goalie, they’ll protect. But there’s some drama when it comes to protecting defensemen because the Isles only have two here.

You might be thinking: “why not Scott Mayfield?” Well, based on exposure requirements the Islanders need to expose a defenseman with at least 27 NHL games in 20-21 or 54 NHL games between 19-20 and 20-21 and they have to be signed through the 21-22 season.

The Islanders only have two defensemen that meet that requirement after Nick Leddy was traded to the Detroit Red Wings. And that’s Ryan Pulock and Scott Mayfield.

It’s hard to believe that Lou Lamoriello will have traded Nick Leddy just to expose either Pulock or Mayfield and have one of them selected for free by Seattle.

Maybe he’s already signed a defenseman that meets the exposure requirements (like Andy Greene) and he can protect Pulock, Pelech, and Mayfield. Or perhaps he’s made a trade with the Kraken.

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – AUGUST 21: The Team Store for the Seattle Kraken, the NHL’s newest franchise, opens for business on August 21, 2020 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Jim Bennett/Getty Images) /

Trade with Seattle?

If either Mayfield or Pulock are left unprotected there’s little doubt that the Seattle Kraken won’t select one of them. Pulock is an elite top pair defenseman while Mayfield is a bottom-four defenseman who excels on the penalty kill.

So it’s possible, assuming either is exposed, that Lou has a trade in with Seattle GM Ron Francis to have them select a specific player or to simply steer clear of either defenseman. But the issue with that is the cost of such a trade.

According to Elliotte Friedman, the cost of making such a move is a first and a third-round pick at the draft. That’s a heavy price to pay. Remember, the last time the Islanders made an expansion draft deal they sent Mikhail Grabovski’s contract ($5 million AAV) a 2017 1st, 2019 2nd, and prospect Jake Bishoff so they’d select Jean-Francois Berube.

I don’t even want to think about what it would take to have Seattle pick a specific player and take Ladd’s $5.5 million deal. Multiple firsts, minimum.

And while the Islanders are still competing for a Cup right now, trading away multiple first-rounders on top of the two they’ve already traded away would essentially make the Islanders system the worst in the NHL and severely reduce its ability to help keep the window open.

A trade with this type of cost should be avoided at all costs.

All Lou needs to do is sign someone like Andy Greene to a one-year contract.

Now What?

Of course, this doesn’t mean he won’t Or hasn’t yet. As we all know Lou Lamoriello loves to take his time. For all we know, Andy Greene has already been signed to a single-year deal.

At the time of writing, it’s 3:45 PM but still trades are being announced. Just like the trade deadline, deals can be announced after the 3 PM roster freeze deadline. Sometimes it takes the NHL a bit of time to get through all of the paperwork.

As can signings.

If we learned anything from the last offseason it’s that Lou might just have the deal already signed but he’s just waiting till the eleventh hour to file the paperwork. Remember, Matt Martin, Andy Greene, and Cory Schneider had already signed with the Islanders deals last year but they weren’t announced until much later.

Lou Lamoriello won’t be caught by surprise here. He’s not going to lose an important piece of his blueline for nothing.

But we have to wait and see what Lou actually does. We won’t know until July 21 exactly how the Isles GM will navigate the expansion draft. I have all the faith in the world that he will avoid losing an important part of the blueline without having to make a costly trade that will have a massive impact on the Isles already weak system.

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