Good news: The Islanders has just completed their deal that they have been waiting for so many years
The NY Islanders are about to embark on their training camp, and it appears that the team’s roster for the 2023–24 campaign is set. This season, there hasn’t been much movement on the roster; Lou Lamoriello only added Julien Gauthier, Karson Kuhlman, and Brian Pinho. The Isles’ major free agency splashes came from re-signing their own players, giving Pierre Engvall and Scott Mayfield seven-year contracts each, and extending the contracts of goaltenders Semyon Varlamov to four years and Ilya Sorokin, a year before he became available, to a maximum of eight years.
According to CapFriendly, the Isles are $486,625 over the cap with their current roster, so they will need to make a move in order to be cap-compliant by the time the season begins. With Lamoriello in charge, any additions seem unlikely right now, but you never know what might be coming up. Before opening night, the Isles could incorporate these three additions:
Zach Parise was one of the Islanders’ best players last season and one of the best players in the league for the money, so the fans have been waiting a long time for this one. Parise, who is 38 years old, did not miss a game while recording 21 goals and 13 assists. If he were to retire, the Isles would suffer a great loss because he was important on the power play and penalty kill. It’s going to take some time to decide, but the longer this goes on, the less likely it seems that he’ll return.
Bailey Josh
Although it’s not the name that everyone was hoping to hear, it might work out well for both of them. Josh Bailey is still unsigned, and since the Chicago Blackhawks bought him out, his name hasn’t surfaced in any rumors. Since joining the team at the age of 18, Bailey has established himself as a mainstay on Long Island, and it’s obvious what his position on the team would be should he return to the field. Though he would only get limited playing time, he would provide the Islanders with some depth at forward and stay with his family on Long Island.
Tatar Tomas
This is a name that, until Stefan Rosner of The Hockey News brought it up yesterday, neither I nor many other Islanders fans had probably heard of. 32-year-old who scored 48 points in the previous campaign and is still without a deal? As Lamoriello has usually kept his business private, in years past, if a player (Nazem Kadri, for example) went months into free agency without being signed, they were immediately linked with the Islanders. It’s not out of the question that the 80-year-old will add Tomas Tatar to the third line to support JG Pageau as a secondary scorer. Tatar will likely command more than the league minimum, so steps would need to be taken to make this possible, likely waiving Ross Johnston and Kuhlman.
