NY Islanders trade defenseman Noah Dobson to the Montreal Canadiens in major move

The New York Islanders have traded 25-year-old defenseman Noah Dobson to the Montreal Canadiens, as first reported by Kevin Weeks. Dobson has signed an eight-year extension with an annual cap hit of $9.5M per season.

Dobson had been a restricted free agent and was reportedly asking for north of $10M in contract negotiations with the Islanders, leading new GM Mathieu Darche to start ramping up discussions with other teams in advance of Friday night's NHL Draft.

Dobson had a career-best 10 goals and 60 assists in 2023-24, the first 70-point season from a defenseman since Denis Potvin for the franchise. However, last year, he posted just 10 goals and 29 assists in 71 games and struggled to get the Islanders' power-play going as its quarterback.

The return for Dobson is winger Emil Heineman and both of Montreal's first round picks in tonight's draft (picks 16 and 17 overall). This move adds the speculation that Darche is looking to use assets to move up in the first round to select Long Island's James Hagens after presumably selecting Matthew Schaefer with the first overall pick.

Heineman, a second round pick of Florida in 2020, scored 10 goals and 8 assists in 62 games for Montreal last season and projects to be a bottom-six winger. He was previously traded twice, from Florida to Calgary in the deal for Sam Bennet and then later to the Habs in a trade that brought back Tyler Toffoli.

Alexander Romanov remains a RFA for the Islanders, but his signing seems more likely after the trading of Dobson to Montreal in Darche's first major move as GM.