Islanders listening, but nowhere close to selling on star forward

The New York Islanders made some pretty major waves earlier this month when news got out that the club was entertaining offers on star forward Mathew Barzal.

Since then, the behind-the-scenes narrative has been that there’s zero chance of the Isles trading Barzal.

Another interesting data point suggests that the Islanders are indeed getting calls on Barzal, but are nowhere near ready to sell on the star forward.

In a recent report in RG Media, Marco D’Amico cited anonymous league sources who claim that, yes, the Islanders are getting calls on Barzal. But the likelihood of the club selling is extremely low.

“Trading Barzal would be a weird one for me. If they had to move out a centre, I’d think Horvat is the one who makes more sense, given how good a year he had and his age. But after sacrificing a good package to nab Brayden Schenn, I don’t see why they’d want to take a step back. They can shed cap space elsewhere,” the Eastern Conference source added.

The source’s comments make sense. There’s no doubt that trading Barzal, unless it was for some kind of amazing return, is counterproductive. The Isles are looking to contend for a playoff spot next season, making Barzal indispensable.

But what seems interesting is that the source believes that if anyone was going to get traded, it would be Bo Horvat.

Why trading Horvat would make more sense for the Islanders

Assuming the Islanders use Barzal at center this year, the Islanders would have four solid NHL centers. Coach Peter DeBoer can roll with Horvat, Barzal, Brayden Schenn, and JG Pageau.

While trading any one of those centers wouldn’t make sense, you would think that Horvat, because he’s a bit older than Barzal, would make the most sense. Now, Horvat is a high-end two-way center. But if there was an offer that was just too good to pass up, Mathieu Darche might consider moving the older of Barzal and Horvat.

That would be about it. There really isn’t any other argument as to why trading Horvat would make more sense.

Again, it would all depend on the return coming. If, let’s say, that return was Dylan Larkin, that would make some sense for the Islanders. The Isles would swap out one elite two-way center for another. The little something extra that the Red Wings would have to throw in to complete the deal would make the move worthwhile.

Overall, the Islanders have no business trading any of their top forwards at this point. Unless the return was so overwhelming that it would be stupid of Mathieu Darche to forego the opportunity, the Isles would do extremely well to just hold on to their pieces and gear up for the start of next season.

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