3 times the NY Islanders traded a draft pick for a player's negotiating rights

The New York Islanders have historically had difficulty luring top free agents to Long Island.

This was especially true during the Garth Snow era when the team underwent a rebuild and had to deal with the uncertainty of their arena and ownership situation moving forward. In an effort to acquire talent that otherwise would not consider the Islanders in free agency, Snow deployed a strategy of trading draft picks for the negotiating rights of players, hoping he could use an exclusive window to get a player to sign and forego unrestricted free agency.

The Islanders' situation is vastly different heading into the 2024-25 season, but the trading for negotiating rights scenario circulated on Friday, as SportsNet's Elliotte Friedman ndicated that top free-agent target, Hurricanes winger Jake Guentzel was likely to test free agency, opening up the Canes to moving his rights before Jul. 1. "It sounds like he's available for a mid-round pick, I believe Carolina has let everybody know that if you want to trade for his rights for a chance to sign him, that it's possible for a mid-round pick," said Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast.

The 29-year-old Guentzel, who has two 40-goal seasons in his career, is likely to earn a max-term deal, and the advantage of the team that owns his rights would be that they could offer an eighth-year, compared to seven for the rest of the league. The Islanders currently don't have the cap space to sign a player of Guentzel's caliber, so the idea of GM Lou Lamoriello trading a mid-round pick for a player he can't yet fit under his roster would appear to be unlikely.

While it's unknown whether the Islanders or any other team would deploy the same strategy Snow used a decade ago, here are 3 times the former GM traded for a player's negotiating rights and the mixed results that followed.