With 20M+ in cap, the Islanders clearly aren't afraid of hitting the cap ceiling. So this is all about salary, not an artificial cap that doesn't affect the budget, to the Islanders.
Martin makes $0.75M this year and $1.75M next year for an average of $1.25M. Not incomparable to other face punchers left in the league. And prior to this last year he was a serviceable player that was almost never scratched. As a young forward group, a gritty veteran is something that the Islanders were going to look for one way or another. Hardly a deal that needs to be criticized.
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