New York Islanders Must Act Fast to Shape Roster for Next Season

The New York Islanders have some big decisions to make before the offseason begins. The NHL buyout period will begin, followed by the NHL Draft and the opening of free agency on July 1st. It is a fun time of year for the fans, but a crucial moment for general managers to shape their teams for contention. Mathieu Darche will have the opportunity to come out aggressively and continue to change the organization's culture. The contracts of the captain, Anders Lee, and defenseman Tony DeAngelo will be at the forefront, with just over $10 million in salary cap space. Darche will need to be aggressive if next year's roster looks any different from the one that failed to make the playoffs for a second straight season. Darche's predecessor, Lou Lamoriello, left Darche with many large contracts attached to players who are on the decline. Additionally, acquiring Ondrej Palat and Brayden Schenn last season will make it difficult for the Islanders to make a large splash without subtracting a contract or two. Darche can take this offseason two ways. The aggressive nature that he has shown in his first year is to prepare for the future, letting contracts expire and dumping what he can to make room for the younger players. The phones have been ringing, and the trade rumors have heated up around the league, but Darche has been attempting to dump the contracts of players like Anthony Duclair since the trade deadline with no success. Players like Duclair, Pierre Engvall, and Palat could potentially save salary cap space for the short-term if Darche chose to buy out one or more of those contracts. Currently, those three players account for $12.5 million and are likely to play fewer than 82 games combined this upcoming season. Rumors swirled over the last few weeks about Darche shopping for Mathew Barzal to create salary cap space. Although this does not seem to be the preference for the Islanders, it would allow a change of scenery and provide the flexibility to add several pieces to a team that lacks scoring depth. This group has been together for quite some time, and fresh faces and skill sets would be welcome. The prospects on the blue line are coming soon, and having Ryan Pulock, Scott Mayfield, and Adam Pelech locked up on long-term deals will block the way for rising stars like Kashawn Aitcheson and Isaiah George. The three veterans account for $15.9 million towards the salary cap for at least the next three seasons. Unloading one of these contracts will require the right trade partner, but will allow Darche's vision to come to fruition. It would be easy for Darche to stand pat with the roster and use the salary cap space to retain DeAngelo and lock up some future RFA's, with the excuse that Palat and Schenn did not have a full season with this roster. Not only would this be received poorly by the fans, but the team would struggle to improve. After this upcoming season, the contracts of Kyle Palmieri, Semyon Varlamov, Kyle MacLean, Casey Cizikas, Palat, and Marc Gatcomb will be off the books. The following season will see Schenn and Duclair's contracts off the books just in time for Matthew Schaefer and Calum Ritchie's entry-level contracts to expire. It would be easy to prepare for the younger contracts and see how the team grows, while adding more prospects to the NHL roster and losing some of the long-term deals that Darche inherited. Time will tell if Darche will take the aggressive or passive approach.