Islanders GM not concerned about lack of players
The New York Islanders have exited the re-signing periods with a lot of work to do, GM TheScorpion admits.
"We've still got some good pieces. We're the definition of top-heavy. I'm sniffing around, looking for some deals where we can maybe exchange some of our bigger stars making higher salaries for packages including perhaps lesser, but overall greater, pieces."
The Islanders came within one win of capturing the CPHL Championship for the first time since 2013 this past season. Much of the core that led the Islanders on that run, including stars Eric Staal, James Neal, T.J. Oshie, Duncan Keith, and Alexander Radulov, while others, including goaltender Craig Anderson, defenseman Mark Giordano, and forward Henrik Zetterberg, have all been shipped out.
Offseason turmoil has limited the Islanders to just seven CPHL forwards, two CPHL defenders, and one CPHL goaltender. But does this faze TheScorpion?
"Not really. We aim to still be competitive this season, we want to be good. We acquired Brock Nelson today from St. Louis with our eye on adding good pieces that, if need be, could be turned into other good pieces.
"The free agency market is always deep, and this year, it looks deeper than ever. We're gonna be examining not just what's available at the top, but what's at the bottom. We feel that we will have the single best top-six in the CPHL but we have no bottom-six -- that'll change. We have a great top-pairing in Keith and Yandle but no bottom-four -- that'll change. Crawford gives us good starting goaltending. We have Max Lagace in the minors but we'll look for a backup."
Clearly, then, it'll be a long road ahead for the Islanders... but a fun one, to be sure.
Your New York Islanders:
David Perron (77) - Eric Staal (81) - Alexander Radulov (76)
T.J. Oshie (71) - Brock Nelson (68) - James Neal (73)
Blake Coleman (69) - Zac Rinaldo (64) - Ryan Reaves (65)
Brandon Pirri (62) - Phil di Giuseppe (62) - Zack Mitchell (63)
Duncan Keith (73) - Keith Yandle (74)
Victor Antipin (65) - Andy Welinski (61)
Andrei Mironov (60) - Paul Postma (60)
Corey Crawford (81)
Maxime Lagace (73)
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"This has been TheScorpion's shtick for years. All these hot takes, clickbait nonsense just to feed his social media algorithms." –Tuco
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