Isles make minor move

[HelloHockeyFans]

-- For Immediate Release --

August 4, 2007

The New York Islanders dipped into the trade market early Saturday afternoon announcing a deal with the Columbus Bluejackets after failed attempts at signing several UFAs.

Sources have confirmed that forward Fredrik Sjostrom will be moving to Columbus in exchange for young defenceman Bruno Gervais.

Sjostrom, who has had a tough time living up to expectations since being drafted 11th overall in the 2001 entry draft was penciled in on the Islanders' 4th line prior to the trade, but will have to make his mark with the Jackets next season instead.

Gervais fills a big void for the Islanders as their 6th defenceman and should have no problems playing in his expected role behind Chris Phillips, Anton Volchenkov, Bret Hedican and Frank Kaberle.

[Sylvanfan]

Yeah, we had a couple of offers but felt that this one was the best fit for our team and addressed the needs that we wanted to take care of. With the signing of Nolan Baumgartner yesterday it essentially moved Gervais down to 8th on our depth chart. But with waiving Dupuis we were going to be short a forward at the CPHL level which is a position where we are horrifically thin to start with.

Given that we wanted to try and find a way to operate with 7 defenceman, 13 forwards, and 3 goalies and find a way to fit them all with our budget we had to make a couple of moves. By waiving Dupuis and his 2.6 million dollar salary we have room for Baumgartner, Sjostrom and another scrub on our CPHL roster. Signing Baumgartner essentially replaced Gervais for less money, than moving Gervais for Sjostrom found us a way to replace Dupuis with a similar rated guy for half the money and still give us salary room.