ISLANDERS SIGN 5 RFA's
The Islanders had some tough decisions to make with the limited amount of NHL ranked players to re-sign.
Out of the 8 RFA's sent packing there is only 1 player was a so called NHL calibur player in Mike Zigomanis, with his rating going down to 56 (drop of 12), Mike's salary of 2.1 MIL + 10-50% for resigning was way to tough to bear. The other 7 have little to no chance of making the NHL or have decided to stay in Europe. This was tough as some of these players had alot of potential like Vladislav Evseev who was once rated as high as a top 10 pick only to fall to a 2nd rounder back in 2002. Another disappointent was former 2004 12th overall pick AJ Thelen who has had conduct problems in University and still remains unsigned by a NHL team, it is believed that his bubble has burst as he has been stuck the last 2 years playing in the ECHL.
The top RFA signing for the Islanders was top 4 d-man Paul Martin 67 OV at 5.5 MIL for 3 years. The new GM Mike Beauchamp for the Islanders had to go for 3 years as he was pontentially scheduled to become a UFA next year where he could have gone for 7 MIL or more.
Other signings include underachievers who the Islanders are still willing to take a chance on and players needed to fill out an already depleted AHL roster. They are as follows
Patrick Eaves LW 60 OV (25yrs) 1yr 1.0 MIL (Drop of 1.25 MIL). He is projected to be a top 6 forward. The Islanders look to be giving him one more chance on a cheap contract.
Drew Miller C 57 OV (25yrs) 2yrs 0.94 MIL (Up .19 MIL). Islanders are still waiting for Drew to transfer his offensive talents to the NHL. He is still a work in progress as he split last season with the Ducks and the AHL.
Matt Lashoff D 54 OV (22yrs) 1yr 1.76 MIL (Up .16 MIL). This is definitely an expensive re-signing for a 54 rating player however Matt is expected to stay down on the farm for another year making only 176k. As a former 22nd overall pick in 2005, Matt has an offensive upside with a mean streak who the Islanders weren't prepared to let go just yet.
Chris Beckford-Tsue G 51 OV (24yrs) 1yr 0.55 MIL (Up .05 MIL). All we can say about this one is that the Islanders will be keeping him as a spare AHL goalie on a cheap contract, unlikely to see any NHL action. Chris's untapped pontential is what is keeping him around for 1 more year.
That about does it on the RFA front as the Islanders prepare to re-sign some key UFA's including Chris Drury 68 OV and Ty Conklin 66 OV who will be some insurance for the injury plagued Rick Dipietro.
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