[Signing] Isles sign Kulemin(4 yrs, $4.19M AAV) and Grabovski(4 yrs, $5M AAV)

[sureLoss]

Arthur Staple @StapeNewsday
#Isles have signed F Nikolai Kulemin and C Mikhail Grabovski to 4-year contracts.

Arthur Staple @StapeNewsday
Kulemin gets $16.75 million over 4 years, Grabovski gets $20 million over 4 years from #Isles.

[devo22]

nice upgrade for the Isles' top 6. Sabres fans will cry about this.

[19Yzerman19]

Too much money for both by about $1M, I think.

Interesting though because what does the Isles roster look like now? I'll check.

Bailey - Tavares – Dal Colle
Kulemin - Grabovski – Okposo
Grabner – Nielsen – Strome
Martin - Cizikas – Clutterbuck

They also have Brock Nelson, Josh Ho Sang, Sebastien Collberg and Colin Macdonald not listed there. The top line is a big question mark but damn, that’s some depth.

[Poe969]

Well they'll reach the cap floor now but I'm not sure how much better this actually makes them. It would be nice if they actually do well though, if Tavares plays the whole year then they'll be a lot better.

[Money Baer]

Originally Posted by 19Yzerman19

Too much money for both by about $1M, I think.

Interesting though because what does the Isles roster look like now? I'll check.

Agreed, but it still a big boost to their top 6, and should keep them from gift-wrapping a top 5 selection to the Sabres.

Good pick ups.

[Read Only]

Too much for each guy although Kulemin is a good player.

Helps Isles not finish bottom 5 again but doesn't due much to make them a play-off threat.

A mediocre team gets more mediocre.

[Ashasx]

The Oilers really needed Grabovski.

Also, I believe the Flames now have the most cap space in the league.

[devo22]

Originally Posted by 19Yzerman19

Too much money for both by about $1M, I think.

Interesting though because what does the Isles roster look like now? I'll check.

FORWARDS
Cory Conacher ($0.600m) / John Tavares ($5.500m) / Kyle Okposo ($2.800m)
Nikolai Kulemin ($4.180m) / Mikhail Grabovski ($5.000m) / Frans Nielsen ($2.750m)
Michael Grabner ($3.000m) / Ryan Strome ($0.863m) / Josh Bailey ($3.300m)
Matt Martin ($1.000m) / Brock Nelson ($0.900m) / Cal Clutterbuck ($2.750m)
Casey Cizikas ($0.900m) / Colin McDonald ($0.638m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Lubomir Visnovsky ($4.750m) / Travis Hamonic ($3.857m)
Thomas Hickey ($0.675m) / Calvin de Haan ($1.500m)
Matt Carkner ($1.500m) / Matt Donovan ($1.250m)
T.J. Brennan ($0.600m) /
GOALTENDERS
Jaroslav Halak ($4.500m)
Chad Johnson ($1.300m)
BUYOUTS
Alexei Yashin ($2.204m)
Rick DiPietro ($0.000m)
BONUS OVERAGE
$0
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(estimations for 2014-15)
SALARY CAP: $69,000,000; CAP PAYROLL: $56,316,976; BONUSES: $2,775,000
CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $12,683,024

or something like that. They have a lot of centers, had to shift a couple of them to the wing (Bailey and Nielsen) and couldn't find a spot for Anders Lee. The cap hits for their RFAs (De Haan, Donovan, Cizikas) are my guesses.

[Igster]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

The Oilers really needed Grabovski.

Oilers need lots.

[SuperMatt18]

Actually a good play by the Islanders.

They showed good chemistry on the Leafs and this gives them two-thirds of their second line now. Their forward depths are actually really deep now.

Frans Nielsen ($2.750m) / John Tavares ($5.500m) / Kyle Okposo ($2.800m)
Nikolai Kulemin ($4.000m) / Mikhail Grabovski ($5.000m) / Michael Grabner ($3.000m)
Josh Bailey ($3.300m) / Brock Nelson ($0.900m) / Colin McDonald ($0.638m)
Matt Martin ($1.000m) / Ryan Strome ($0.863m) / Cal Clutterbuck ($2.750m)
Cory Conacher ($0.600m) /

Need some defense though, wonder if we can get one of their Right handed forwards for Wideman.

[Muffins]

Ha! they're still taking a cap hit for Yashin's buyout. That's hilarious!

[bubbsy]

looked up the isles on capgeek, and couldn't help but giggle to see that this will be the final year that yashin gets his buyout pay.

anyways, i'm hoping the isles are a playoff team this year. Tavares deserves to have a supporting cast, and i don't want the sabres getting even more high picks!

[Calgary4LIfe]

I always shake my head every year when I see Yashin's name still coming up on the buyouts.

While these signings are spectacular, and they obviously don't make the Isles a competitor, I do think it helps them get closer (or maybe even into) the playoffs. Depth is vitally important in the season. Halak should be a huge upgrade in net too. Buffalo will not get a top 5 pick out of them.

[Phanuthier]

its pretty hilarious Yashin is still on there

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by Muffins

Ha! they're still taking a cap hit for Yashin's buyout. That's hilarious!

It's hard to believe it's been over 7 years since his last NHL game. I saw the other day that Darcy Tucker just came off the Leaf's cap hit.

[19Yzerman19]

Originally Posted by devo22

FORWARDS
Cory Conacher ($0.600m) / John Tavares ($5.500m) / Kyle Okposo ($2.800m)
Nikolai Kulemin ($4.180m) / Mikhail Grabovski ($5.000m) / Frans Nielsen ($2.750m)
Michael Grabner ($3.000m) / Ryan Strome ($0.863m) / Josh Bailey ($3.300m)
Matt Martin ($1.000m) / Brock Nelson ($0.900m) / Cal Clutterbuck ($2.750m)
Casey Cizikas ($0.900m) / Colin McDonald ($0.638m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Lubomir Visnovsky ($4.750m) / Travis Hamonic ($3.857m)
Thomas Hickey ($0.675m) / Calvin de Haan ($1.500m)
Matt Carkner ($1.500m) / Matt Donovan ($1.250m)
T.J. Brennan ($0.600m) /
GOALTENDERS
Jaroslav Halak ($4.500m)
Chad Johnson ($1.300m)

or something like that. They have a lot of centers, had to shift a couple of them to the wing (Bailey and Nielsen) and couldn't find a spot for Anders Lee. The cap hits for their RFAs (De Haan, Donovan, Cizikas) are my guesses.[/QUOTE]

Yeah that looks mostly right, I forgot about Conacher, but I would suggest that Cizikas is in the bottom 6 for sure and this move bumps Conacher out of the top 6. Frans Nielsen has to be their 3C. It's quite a strong group up the middle.

Amazing to me that they have what appears to be a pretty solid forward lineup and have 12 million in cap space to work with. Granted the blue line's pretty awful.

[Enoch Root]

They need NHL players and they just signed a couple - not too worried about the price because it's free agency, they need to get to the floor, and it's the Isles - until they can show consistency, they will need to pay up to entice players to come.

Most importantly: the Isles HAVE to lift themselves out of the basement this year. If they give Buffalo a lottery pick (imagine if it were the #1 pick!) it would be one of the biggest fiascos in league history.

[GreenLantern]

This will help shield Strome and Nelson a bit more as well which is a big bonus for the Isles.

[ComixZone]

Dal Colle will be their top line LW. If pre-draft talk is any indication, Dal Colle is one of the if not the most ready player in the draft group to jump into the NHL.

They need another d-man as I'm not sure if Visnovsky will even dress for them this season depending on how his recovery goes.

[Hackey]

Islanders actually look half decent with some nice prospects as well. Hopefully they have a decent season.