Islanders Trade Andrew Ladd To Arizona Coyotes
Lou Lamoriello has finally done it! The New York Islanders have escaped the clutches of the Andrew Ladd contract today when the Isles GM attached Ladd and picks to send to the Arizona Coyotes.
Ladd signed with the Isles on July 1 2016 to a seven-year $38.5 million deal ($5.5 million AAV). He had two years remaining at $5.5 million against the cap, which the Islanders fully buried for the entirety of last season.
Unfortunately for Garth Snow who signed him, and the Isles who have had the $5.5 million cap figure for five years, he did not live up to expectations on the Island. In year one, he played 78 games putting up just 31 points (23 goals, 8 assists).
Unfortunately, he didn’t bounce back it only got worse. Year two saw him play 73 games with 29 points (12 goals, 17 assists) to his name. The ironic part was in that 2017-2018 season under Doug Weight, everyone was seemingly scoring at will.
Then, the wheels came off in year three. Over the last three seasons, Ladd has played a combined 30 games, four of which have come over the last two years. Multiple knee injuries were what caused him to miss so much time.
Now, the Isles are reportedly attaching picks to him in order for the Arizona Coyotes to take the last two years of the contract. As per Elliotte Friedman, the picks are a 2021 2nd, a 2022 2nd, and a 2023 3rd round pick.
The Islanders are now working with $14.05 million in cap space, before doing anything with Johnny Boychuk. Moving him to LTIR, which is what’s expected, could tack on another $6 million for the Isles to play with.
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Kudos to Lou Lamoriello for doing his thing and not having to clear out a first-round pick. In the span of 24 hours, he’s opened up an additional $11 million in cap space.