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

D Dan Boyle - San Jose Sharks

The targeting of pre-free agents continued before the start of the 2014-15 season.

Snow acquired veteran defenseman Dan Boyle from the San Jose Sharks for a conditional draft pick in early June and the early indications were that Boyle was open to joining the team. The pick would be a 2015 5th-rounder if Boyle didn't sign and be elevated to a 4th-rounder if he they could convince him that Long Island was the right place for the 37-year-old to play his final NHL seasons.

Boyle had 12 goals and 24 assists in his final season with the Sharks and had hoped to stay in San Jose, but the team only offered him a one-year contract as his role was starting to diminish. His role would certainly be bigger on Long Island for an Isles team hoping to return to the playoffs after missing them the prior season after an encouraging end to the shortened 2013 campaign.

You can't blame the fact that Boyle didn't like the northeast of the metro-area as the reason why the two sides didn't work out a deal. Unlike the Ehrhoff situation where Snow was able to regain a draft pick prior to the start of free agency, the clock simply ran out on the Islanders trying to entice Boyle to sign with the Isles. Instead, he signed a two-year, $9 million contract with the New York Rangers on the first day of free-agency on Jul. 1. The deal included a no-movement clause and would be where he finished his NHL career.