Reports says the NY Islanders are exploring trading Mathew Barzal this summer

The latest rumor making the rounds may be one of the strangest Islanders-related reports of the offseason.

According to a report from Bruce Garrioch in the Ottawa Citizen, a league executive suggested that the New York Islanders are exploring the trade market for All-Star forward Mathew Barzal as a way to create salary cap flexibility.

The reasoning? Barzal has four years remaining on his contract at a $9.15 million cap hit through 2030-31. The problem is that almost everything the Islanders have done this offseason suggests the exact opposite.

If new general manager Mathieu Darche was beginning a full-scale roster reset, perhaps the rumor would make sense. But that is not what the Islanders have been signaling. This is the same team that acquired veteran center Brayden Schenn and brought back Jean-Gabriel Pageau rather than moving him for future assets.

Those are win-now moves.

Trading Barzal would be the opposite.

At 29 years old, Barzal remains one of the Islanders' most dynamic offensive players. Despite battling injuries in recent seasons, he still produced 19 goals and 72 points in 81 games last year. More importantly, he remains one of the few players on the roster capable of creating offense on his own.

That type of talent is not something teams actively shop unless they are rebuilding or receiving a massive return.

Neither scenario appears to fit where the Islanders currently are.

Could another team call about Barzal? Absolutely. Every general manager listens. That is part of the job. But there is a major difference between taking calls and actively trying to move a player who remains central to the team's offense.

The Islanders finally appear to have a franchise cornerstone in Matthew Schaefer. If the goal is to build a contender around Schaefer's emerging star power, removing one of the organization's best offensive players would be a strange place to start.

For now, this feels much more like offseason speculation than an indication of where the Islanders are actually headed. Barzal has a 22-team modified no-trade clause, and it's likely that a franchise such as Ottawa would be on that list, and he's shown no desire to leave Long Island.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow