NHL Trade Rumors: Marc-Andre Fleury, Colorado Avalanche
By Ryan Ritchie
Jacob Trouba finds a new home, despite rescinding trade request
Don’t let the rescinded trade request fool you. That’s simply the Jets doing their due diligence after a messy situation. If anything, that new $3 million dollar cap hit makes Trouba an even more attractive trade piece.
While, it certainly should spark a little more interest, there’s no guarantees another GM is willing to pay Kevin Cheveldayoff’s lofty asking price.
As it usually works in a trade, one side must bend a little and compromise. In this case, the Jets GM may need to creative to get what he seeks. If he truly wants a similar quality/age defenseman, he needs to add a sweetener in the deal.
That could be done in a range of ways: if a team is looking for some rental help, Stafford and a prospect could be included as part of a bigger multi-player deal. Maybe a team that needs help between the pipes would be interested in Ondrej Pavelec‘s services? Something tells me we could be in store for one of those 8-9 player deals.
New York Islanders cave under pressure of early struggles
Say what you want about coach Jack Capuano being on the hot seat. Truth be told though, GM Garth Snow hasn’t exactly given him much to work with. When you have to resort to putting Cal Clutterbuck on your top line, you have to wonder if the bench boss is trying to send a message that he needs a little help.
Prospect such as Michael Dal Colle, Josh Ho-Sang, and Mathew Barzal should eventually be impact forwards for the Isles, but it became clear that Anthony Beauvillier was only the only prospect ready to make an impact in 2016-17. The addition of free agent Andrew Ladd and Jason Chimera plus prospects was supposed to be enough to help replace Kyle Okposo, Frans Nielsen, and Matt Martin. But with the kids failed in fulfilling their part of the deal and the Isles are left scrambling looking for answers.
GM Garth Snow is running out of time. He can keep waiting for these prospects to emerge, perhaps John Tavares eventually finds a top line winger or two. That’s an awfully big gamble to take with Johnny T set to become a free agent in 2018. The New York Islanders haven’t exactly done anything to convince him to stay.
It might be time to invest in a quality top six winger. I’m talking about an upgrade on Kyle Okposo. The Islanders have more than enough blueliners to sacrifice one that will likely be lost in expansion anyways. They’ve also got a boatload of premium prospects that could help fetch a quality player.
If the Isles are lucky, maybe that team will have a need between the pipes as well. Although, it may be difficult to find a taker for that $4.5 million dollar cap hit of Jaroslav Halak.