Islanders defensive trade target: Oliver Kylington

I want to give massive credit to my friend Ryan Paulsen for this idea because he's been on it for a while now. That idea is that the New York Islanders should target Calgary Flames defenseman Oliver Kylington.

Why target him? Well, the easy answer is he's a young left-handed top-four defenseman that fills a void on the Islanders roster for 2022-23.

New York Islanders should target Calgary Flames Oliver Kylington

The initial thing you see - outside of his handedness, his age, and the number of minutes he can play - is his production. In 2021-22 he scored 31 points in 73 games, including nine goals. That would rank him second on the Islanders blue line for goals and points.

That would be ideal to address the issue of getting more offense from the defense as Lou Lamoriello said he wanted to do at the end of the 2021-22 season.

It was a breakout year for Kylington who stepped up into the Flames' top four. Adding him to the roster would immediately improve the Islanders' back end immensely. The question isn't "is Oliver Kylington a good player" but "can he be had"?

There's a real possibility. Kylington is one of a number of players on the Flames roster that needs a new contract. Here's a list of a few guys that need new - and costly - deals for the Flames:

Andrew Mangiapane (RFA)
Matthew Tkachuk (RFA)
Johnny Gaudreau (UFA)
Oliver Kylington (RFA)
Nikita Zadorov (UFA)

Calgary has $26.9 million to re-sign them all. That kind of sounds like a lot but Tkachuk and Gaudreau can easily chew up most of that. So the Flames are going to have to prioritize who they're going to keep.

The Flames could look to get a solid return via trade by sending Kylington to the Isles. You have to think that Islanders would likely match what the Flames are looking for. The cost is going to be high for Kylington, but that cost will still be less than whatever the Coyotes want for Jakob Chychrun.

Young, top-four defenseman, that can put up points. Kylington checks a number of boxes and they can get him for less than the consensus number one trade target. Seems ideal.