The Islanders Have a Massive Opportunity... This Changes Everything

The New York Islanders have a massive opportunity as Nikita Kucherov has requested trade from the Tampa Bay Lightning. We're going to break it down on this episode of Islanders Digest, talk about what the Islanders could possibly trade for Kucherov. More importantly, we're going to talk about my ideal scenario and What they can give him in free agency to get him to come to the Islanders if Tampa elects to keep him, honestly, just letting you know transparently, that is the option for the Islanders that really is ringing a bell because while it would be hard to put together a trade package, you look at what this team has and the money they have. If they are able to bring him in in free agency, it would... Absolutely change this franchise and unlike other teams that have the money but not quite the team or the team but not quite the money, the Islanders can kind of do it both and really give Kucherov a chance to win while also accelerating the timeline. And third, we're also going to talk about how this changes the playoff race. I think this is one of the most under Talked about elements of this. Tampa is going to be under a lot of scrutiny right now. They already lost in overtime to Nashville. You got to imagine this is going to impact the locker room right now. The Islanders are in a situation where they're right outside the wild card, and it's looking like two Atlantic teams are going to make the playoffs. If Tampa starts to falter here, that can be the Islanders window to make the playoffs. And I think that is something to touch on at the end. But first, let's dive right into the article that blew up the entire hockey internet. And that was Elliot Friedman. Dropping a tweet with no caption. That's how you know it's going to be a really good one. And as it reads, according to multiple sources, Nikita Kucherov has informed both his teammates and the Lightning organization that he will not be resigning with Tampa Bay and would like to be traded. And I think really quickly before we go to the next part of this, the key for me is that he's already informed his teammates. This does not sound like something that he was talking about with his agent. It got out of hand. And this sounds like a calculated move by Kucherov, letting the team know. that he's done. And a lot of people who are close to Nikita Kucherov say he's a guy who, when he makes a decision, he does not change his mind. I truly believe whatever the Lightning try to do, I think if they decide to keep him, which we'll talk about in just one second, he will be all in to try to win with the Lightning. But I do think this is final. And the second part of this quote is, the exact reasons are unclear at this point, but Kucherov, the NHL's reigning MVP, is in the final season of an eight-year, $76 million contract. Last week, he passed Steven Stamkos the leading scorer in franchise history. I think that is a huge part of this, right? Everything Kucherov has done, the Cups, the Hart Trophies, every single milestone, he's done all that in this contract for $76 million. I'm sorry. This guy deserves to get paid. And a lot of people make jokes, you know. You had the quote the other day from the Blue Jays. Like, oh, I'm getting paid for what I've already done, not for what I'm going to do. With Kucherov, he's absolutely still doing it. And when we get to what I would pay him from the New York Islanders' perspective, it'll make it very clear that I believe he still has many years of producing at or close to these levels. Because, frankly, even if he slows down, this is a player who's producing double what the best players on the New York Islanders are. are producing but now I do want to get into the quote that I think is key for the New York Islanders because as we're going to discuss in one second this would be a really hard trade to to do I think the Islanders would have to find a third team they just don't have the talent on the roster to to get the lightning interested in trading a player like Nikita Kucherov if they want to trade him I would not be surprised if they're not bluffing here when they said that they're not going to trade Nikita Kucherov. We have a quote here from Julien Brisebois. Sorry, I keep on pulling up the same link. We'll talk about that one in one second. But Julien Brisebois said on this situation, we unequivocally have no intention of trading Nikita. So this could be a bluff to keep the value up. We won't know until they do or don't trade Nikita Kucherov. If they don't, though, this is an incredible situation for the New York Islanders because, as I said, I think it would be hard to do a trade, right? You do a trade, you get the long-term contract. Obviously, for the Islanders, there would have to be a contract extension in place. You're not trading for one rental season of Nikita Kucherov when you are a borderline coming-up team. Yes, you have your franchise goalie. Yes, you have your franchise defenseman. That's why I think the Islanders are an interesting team for Nikita Kucherov. That's why I think they should go all-in on this, especially when it comes to free agency. But you're not going to be able to do that just like that. that, but if he does not. Get traded. If Tampa holds him, they go for one last glorious run with this core and then let him hit free agency. This is the ideal situation for the New York Islanders. We talk about this team. I think they have a lot of value. Some people will argue on Twitter that they don't have enough in terms of value to get it done. I disagree in that sense. I think the Islanders prospect pool is very solid. Even once Victor Eklund graduates, I think they are going to be closer to the 15 to 20 range, but still. In a decent situation where you still have key impact players, that also depends on how other teams, how many players graduate. It's really hard to tell right now where it will rank. And I don't like to rank prospect pools just on how good the pool is. I think it's more valuable that the Islanders consistently now seem to be graduating players from Schaefer, Cal Ritchie, Victor Eklund. The Islanders have a lot of interesting young assets, but you look at Tampa and what they're trying to do, it's most likely they're going to be trying to stay competitive and they're going to want a guy who's really impactful right now. For example, from the Canadians, a Slavkovsky, something like that. So, with the Islanders' pool, is future something Tampa's going to want? That's why I don't think the trade route is as viable. Now, maybe the Islanders can pull together enough assets to get a player like Dylan Larkin, ship him to Tampa Bay for something crazy like that, like a three-way type trade. But it's really hard to see that happening because if a team has a player that Tampa's so interested in, they're likely going to want to trade for Nikita Kucherov. That all being said, the trade route doesn't seem all that likely, and sorry if I got a little jumbled up there, but what I do think makes a ton of sense for the New York Islanders is if they weaponize their cap space, assuming he hits free agency, because I think there's a real chance that Nikita Kucherov changes free agency, and that absolutely changes the stance I've been going at when it comes to free agency. I've been assuming that nobody's going to hit. Like when we talk about. Who the impact players are, I've been talking about Jared McCann as the number one target for the New York Islanders. And for the record, I think if he's available, they still should go after Jared McCann. But you look at how much money they have next season, $41.9 million. The Islanders have an insane amount of cash. And let's face it, they have nothing on this roster to pay. Simon Holmstrom currently, Mattias Micheli, and... Emile Heineman, those are the three players that the Islanders would currently have to play for that money as well as a couple of depth pieces. You're not going to be able to spend close to $41 million. So when it comes to the Islanders, why I see them as a legitimate player for Nikita Kucherov, unlike these star studded teams that have the rest of their roster deal with, the Islanders are a team that I think can offer him. Close to a max contract. And you talk about what the issues are with Tampa. Apparently, allegedly, according to Chris Johnson, they have not been willing to go past $15 million per year. That, I'm sorry, is insulting for a player of Nikita Kucherov's standard. Standard, uh... He's a player that allegedly he's looking for closer to a six-year, $20 million AAV, and people will likely, obviously, based on the age, want to cut that down. I'm going to be transparent with you. If the Islanders can overpay here, six years, $20 million, if that's what Nikita Kucherov is asking for, I'm going to give it to him, and I'm going to have Nikita Kucherov on my roster for the next six years. And I'm going to explain why right now. You look at what Nikita Kucherov is. I know he's an older player. I know he's going to regress. I'm not stupid, right? He's going to be 34 years old when this contract kicks in. So you're paying from 34 to 40-year-old Nikita Kucherov. But Nikita Kucherov is a special type of player. He's a player who's brilliant when it comes to playmaking, which gives you some good feelings that he is going to age. Pretty decently, we see, too, when it comes to these superstar-style players in the NHL, especially these power play dominant players. And when you look at how bad the Islanders' power play has been for years, it would be a dream to have a guy like this. You look at what Crosby has still been able to do. You look at, you know, Ovechkin's finally slowing down. He's 41 now. These guys age more gracefully. And Nikita Kucherov last year, 130 points. Just to put that in perspective for the New York Islanders, that's more, that's almost double what Matt Barzell produced. That's more than double what Bo Horvat, what Matthew Schaefer produced. It's an insane amount of points to add to a roster. And if you can do it in free agency, you can do it without cutting off anything. Unlike other teams, the Islanders would not have... have to sacrifice other pieces and why I think he'd be interested on top of the fact that Matthew Darcy is general manager. He already has a relationship. This is a team. Kucherov was talking about how he wants to play with star players. You already have a franchise defenseman. You don't have a star center, but you have two solid centers in Beau Horvat, Matt Barzell. You have a franchise goaltender. You add Nikita Kucherov, those are all the pieces you need to build a cup contender. And looking at the Islanders, Kucherov would also see they have a lot of young talent where they're going to continue to get better. And that's also why I feel comfortable giving a guy like this a six-year contract. Yes, it is going to be a ton of money. It's probably not going to look the greatest by the end of it. But if he can still be somewhat productive. The NHL salary cap is skyrocketing, right? It's not just this one season. I know a lot of you two are thinking, well, how are we going to pay Matthew Schaefer? Well, you look two years ahead. The Islanders have $72 million. You can easily figure out the rest of the roster if you're paying Matthew Schaefer $20 million, Nikita Kucherov $20 million. Say even you believe in Cal Ritchie like I do, you want to get him early on a $10 million contract, $50 million. You can figure out the rest from there. Sign the rest of your depth players to cheaper deals because when you look at this Islanders team, One of the key advantages they have, while they haven't spent the smartest money, they have Bo Horvat locked up for under $10 million, and they have Matt Barzell locked up for under $10 million. It's not like they're going to have big players to deal with right away. They can afford to give a really big contract and figure out the rest later. And if they are able to do this, I think this would instantly make the Islanders a true contending team. We talk about guys like Kyrou, these guys who hit the market where you can get them for like a first, second, third, those types of offers. The Islanders are not a team. team that's one piece away in that sense but in terms of like a Nikita Kucherov level player absolutely they're one play a team piece away from being a contender and then you can have the rest of the youth either grow in or accelerate it by getting other pieces right. This is something the Islanders should absolutely look into. With Matthew Schaefer, one big question I've had is how are the Islanders going to get that second piece? You look at a lot of teams that win the Stanley Cup. Carolina is an exception where there's just an all-around good roster. Typically, you have two or three franchise players. And with the Islanders, I think they have that franchise goalie. I know they have that franchise defenseman. Can you find, whenever you have the chance to get that other franchise piece, even if you have to pay... Down the line, especially if it's you have to pay financially down the line. I think you make it work. And this is something I find really interesting because especially look at this year's draft. I think there's a lot of interesting pieces. I don't quite see that franchise piece. So when people are talking about oh the Islanders should tank be the worst team for us. I think that would be nearly impossible. But you do that. I'm not convinced that Landon DuPont and Matthew Schaefer together makes that franchise where essentially you don't have a forward, right? Not. Dissing Landon DuPont but you get my point here, right? If you had a core of Matthew Schaefer, Ilya Sorokin, Nikita Kucherov. I think this team could do something special. I think that player sees that it is a nice place to live. We'll see what happens. I'm not saying the Islanders are favorites by any means, but they're definitely a dark horse in this one. They make a lot more sense than they have in the past. And you got to keep in mind, NHL players are aware of guys like Victor Eklund already making the way up. I don't think the Islanders have the pieces to make a trade here work, but if he hits free agency, I think this is a team that can really shock people and bring in Nikita Kucherov. And one final thing I want to point out, this changes the Islanders. No matter what, because you look right now in the Metro division, they are on the outside looking in. I think three teams are going to make it from the Metro, definitely, and I do think those teams are going to be Carolina, New Jersey, Washington. I like the way the Islanders have played, and I think they've really surprised me at points, but they're not better than Carolina. With Hellebuck, I no longer think they're better than New Jersey. I think New Jersey has really hit another level, and if they stay healthy, again, stay healthy, if they stay healthy, I think they are a true contender. In the Washington Capitals, while an older team definitely not going to last long term, I think they've added enough offense this offseason where I think it'd be insane for them to miss the playoffs. They're just going to have an easier road where the Islanders on nights where they don't score, it's going to be difficult for them. Another reason why you look to add an offensive changing player, right? You have a winning coach in Pete DeBoer, right? It can do a lot of good here. But in terms of the playoff race, typically we were looking at this as a situation where Where three teams would make it from the Metro, likely leaving the Islanders. on the outside. If Tampa falters here, right? And that's a big if, right? We'll see how they react to the news. Maybe it galvanizes them. They know this is the last run. They put it all in. If Tampa kind of falters, or maybe if they trade Nikita Kucherov out of Tampa and get more future assets, this could be a situation where Tampa falls out of that race in the Atlantic, opening up one wildcard spot for a Metro team. But yeah, I'd love to know what you think about this in the comments below. I understand it's a long shot. I'm not saying the Islanders are failures if they do not land Nikita Kucherov. I think there is a real possibility here. And whether it's Kucherov, whether it's McDavid, at some point in the near future, I think the Islanders are going to look to take a big swing, take advantage of the fact that they have Matthew Schaefer to help convince players to want to play there. And whether it's a trade, I think if it's a trade, it's likely going to happen. A year or two for now, once they have more of an idea of what's in their prospect pool. But I do think the Islanders are going to look to make a game-changing move like this. And I do think a move like this would be enough to make the Islanders legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. But that's going to do it for this episode. of Islander's Digest. We'll likely do a follow-up to this at some point, but I'd love to know your thoughts. Let me know in the comments. And maybe when I do a follow-up video, I'll put up some of your comments and we can discuss them. I'd love to interact with you guys, but this video is running long. Thanks for watching and be sure to subscribe if you haven't already.