Yesterday's news regarding Mathew Barzal was devastating for the NY Islanders. Amid a 7-game winning streak, the Isles may be without their most dynamic player for the remainder of the season.
So which direction does Lou Lamoriello take this team over the next month?
Lou Lamoriello has never been one to sell at the trade deadline, and he now potentially has Barzal's $9.15M AAV to play with after he's placed on LTIR. Lamoriello could bring in a high-end end player to replace Barzal as the Islanders continue to push toward a Wild Card spot - even though replacing Barzal doesn't come easily.
Do the Isles buy or sell?
In a best-case scenario, Lamoriello would acquire a player like Elias Pettersson who could fill in the role vacated by Barzal, with Barzal returning for the playoffs, similar to what the Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights have done with Nikita Kucherov and Mark Stone.
While Noah Dobson could be dangled as trade bait, it would likely cost the Islanders more than just the defenseman to bring in a player of Pettersson's caliber, and the Islanders aren't exactly flooded in the prospect pool.
The other option would be to sell. Move on from Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri who will be unrestricted free agents at the end of the season, and field calls for JG Pageau, Scott Mayfield, and just about anybody else on the roster who could recoup assets.
This offseason is the first in years that the Islanders will have considerable cap space to work with, on top of the cap ceiling increasing by $7.5M before next season. They'll still need to make decisions on Noah Dobson, Alexander Romanov, Simon Holmstrom, Scott Perunovich, and Adam Boqvist, who are all RFA's, but even after those contracts, there would still be money to play with.
The Islanders are currently four points out of a Wild-Card position. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins are between them and the final playoff spot, and the Rangers and Canadiens are right behind them. With three games before the 4 Nations Face-Off and nine games before the March 7 trade deadline, time is running out.
The next few games will determine the future of this team for this season and going forward. Remain in the race and Lamoriello will likely do all he can to give his team a chance at going as far as they can. Drop a few more points than expected and this team could look a lot different in a month.