Here’s a bet that may actually be safer than Aleksander Barkov winning a second-straight Selke Trophy: The Islanders won’t carry nine defensemen on their roster to begin next season.
Which implies that Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, when five of their six blue liners within the season finale were pending free agents, was almost assuredly the swan song for a part of the group that features Noah Dobson, Scott Perunovich, Mike Reilly, Tony DeAngelo and Adam Boqvist.
Apart from Dobson, who’s very much a known commodity, the match against the Blue Jackets amounted to a final audition for that group, with Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock being held out of a meaningless Game 82 and Alexander Romanov out with illness for a second straight game.
Romanov is a pending restricted free agent, too, and even Scott Mayfield — the one defenseman within the Islanders’ lineup Thursday who shouldn’t be on an expiring deal, with five seasons left on his contract — can’t be treated as one hundred pc protected after frequent healthy scratches down the stretch, which may lead the Islanders to contemplate a buyout.
And, because all of that isn’t enough, there’s also Isaiah George to contemplate.
The 21-year-old was sent down at the tip of January after playing 33 games for the Isles, but showed good enough to consider he’ll have a very good shot to make the roster out of camp next season.
Of the trio that was brought in when a glut of injuries hit the Islanders at the tip of January — DeAngelo, Boqvist and Perunovich — DeAngelo, a pending UFA, has the perfect case to return next season. He’s the just one who has stayed within the lineup every night and has been on the highest pair for many of that span, averaging 23:26 while accumulating 19 points in 36 games.
That was enough to place DeAngelo in a tie with Dobson for the Islanders’ highest-scoring defenseman this season on a per-game basis, and it might be no surprise for player and team to commit to one another for an additional season after the Islanders pulled DeAngelo back from Russia in a show of religion within the defenseman’s character that has, to date, paid off.
Dobson and Romanov, each pending RFAs, must be back as well and on long-term deals, though a setback of a season for Dobson combined with what might be a summer environment conducive to supply sheets creates at the very least a small degree of doubt there.
Since Boqvist and Perunovich are each restricted as well, the Islanders have some control over those situations, but could run out of spots fast.
Pulock and Pelech, their two highest-paid defensemen, each have no-trade clauses and long-term deals in hand, so it’s hard to see them going anywhere. And while moving into one other direction from Dobson and Romanov is feasible, it wouldn’t make much sense to walk away from two 25-year-old defensemen who must be within the Islanders’ top 4 — if not their top pair — for years to return.
Throw George and DeAngelo into the combination as well and abruptly, the Islanders have six slots of seven filled.
If the Islanders buy out Mayfield (or discover a trade for him, though that might likely require attaching an asset and he has a full no-trade clause,) it could open up a spot for one in every of Reilly, Boqvist or Perunovich, or allow the team to look elsewhere in free agency.
The Islanders often used Boqvist as a power-play specialist, but his presence did little to affect a five-on-four unit that was terrible all season no matter personnel. If the pending restricted free agent desires to stay as a seventh defenseman, that might make sense, but it surely’s hard to see him being an every-night player.
Perunovich, who played the season’s final two games after having been a healthy scratch since a minus-4 performance against the Rangers on Feb. 25, is probably going out the door.
Ditto for Reilly, who was an inspiring story this season after coming back from heart surgery but couldn’t stick within the lineup and whose offense-first role was kind of filled by DeAngelo.
Here’s a bet that may actually be safer than Aleksander Barkov winning a second-straight Selke Trophy: The Islanders won’t carry nine defensemen on their roster to begin next season.
Which implies that Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, when five of their six blue liners within the season finale were pending free agents, was almost assuredly the swan song for a part of the group that features Noah Dobson, Scott Perunovich, Mike Reilly, Tony DeAngelo and Adam Boqvist.
Apart from Dobson, who’s very much a known commodity, the match against the Blue Jackets amounted to a final audition for that group, with Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock being held out of a meaningless Game 82 and Alexander Romanov out with illness for a second straight game.
Romanov is a pending restricted free agent, too, and even Scott Mayfield — the one defenseman within the Islanders’ lineup Thursday who shouldn’t be on an expiring deal, with five seasons left on his contract — can’t be treated as one hundred pc protected after frequent healthy scratches down the stretch, which may lead the Islanders to contemplate a buyout.
And, because all of that isn’t enough, there’s also Isaiah George to contemplate.
The 21-year-old was sent down at the tip of January after playing 33 games for the Isles, but showed good enough to consider he’ll have a very good shot to make the roster out of camp next season.
Of the trio that was brought in when a glut of injuries hit the Islanders at the tip of January — DeAngelo, Boqvist and Perunovich — DeAngelo, a pending UFA, has the perfect case to return next season. He’s the just one who has stayed within the lineup every night and has been on the highest pair for many of that span, averaging 23:26 while accumulating 19 points in 36 games.
That was enough to place DeAngelo in a tie with Dobson for the Islanders’ highest-scoring defenseman this season on a per-game basis, and it might be no surprise for player and team to commit to one another for an additional season after the Islanders pulled DeAngelo back from Russia in a show of religion within the defenseman’s character that has, to date, paid off.
Dobson and Romanov, each pending RFAs, must be back as well and on long-term deals, though a setback of a season for Dobson combined with what might be a summer environment conducive to supply sheets creates at the very least a small degree of doubt there.
Since Boqvist and Perunovich are each restricted as well, the Islanders have some control over those situations, but could run out of spots fast.
Pulock and Pelech, their two highest-paid defensemen, each have no-trade clauses and long-term deals in hand, so it’s hard to see them going anywhere. And while moving into one other direction from Dobson and Romanov is feasible, it wouldn’t make much sense to walk away from two 25-year-old defensemen who must be within the Islanders’ top 4 — if not their top pair — for years to return.
Throw George and DeAngelo into the combination as well and abruptly, the Islanders have six slots of seven filled.
If the Islanders buy out Mayfield (or discover a trade for him, though that might likely require attaching an asset and he has a full no-trade clause,) it could open up a spot for one in every of Reilly, Boqvist or Perunovich, or allow the team to look elsewhere in free agency.
The Islanders often used Boqvist as a power-play specialist, but his presence did little to affect a five-on-four unit that was terrible all season no matter personnel. If the pending restricted free agent desires to stay as a seventh defenseman, that might make sense, but it surely’s hard to see him being an every-night player.
Perunovich, who played the season’s final two games after having been a healthy scratch since a minus-4 performance against the Rangers on Feb. 25, is probably going out the door.
Ditto for Reilly, who was an inspiring story this season after coming back from heart surgery but couldn’t stick within the lineup and whose offense-first role was kind of filled by DeAngelo.
