The New York Islanders have made a splendid play ahead of Monday’s NHL deadline, to deal with veteran New Jersey Devils strikers Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac.
The Islands handed out depth players AJ Greer and Mason Jobst to the Devils, along with their first-round pick in the 2021 draft and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2022 draft. The Devils will retain 50% of the hits of Palmieri and Zajac as part of the terms.
How did the two CEOs do in this exchange? Here are our qualifications for trade:
GM Lou Lamoriello said it best when he explained the trade of the islanders for Palmieri and Zajac: there are no surprises with these two. “I know what they wear on the ice. I also know what kind of people they are and what they wear in the locker room. Chemistry is very important to me,” he said.
They have played against these islanders frequently. They have played with New York defender Andy Greene, who was a devils career defender before Lamoriello arrived in Jersey and added him to the Islanders in the commercial term last season. For better or worse, there are no surprises here about the players the islanders acquired.
It will be mostly for the better.
Palmieri has a low year: there is nothing that can prevent it. The question is whether a change of landscape in the short term can reactivate his offense. It has been better than 0.33 goals per game since 2015-16; this season, he is at 0.24, with eight goals in 34 games. It has not been less than 0.66 points per game during this period; this season, it’s at 0.50. Palmieri has some encouraging underlying numbers (51.41 percent of planned targets). This is not a case of its production being affected by a kind of sudden and sharp decline. Whether deployed to the left of Mathew Barzal or to the right of Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Palmieri will help fill the offensive gap left by the loss of Anders Lee for the season.
Zajac was an interesting addition to the offer. His best days are behind him and he has scored an expected goal percentage of 46.88 to 5 against 5. Like Palmieri, this season he has been a substitute player for the Devils. His calling card used to be a penalty killer, but it has also been ineffective.
The 35-year-old is a strong player who can attack (18 points in 33 games) while playing a six-man role. It also offers the islanders considerable experience and depth in the center: Barzal, Brock Nelson, Pageau, Casey Cizikas and now Zajac. Lamoriello drafted it. Lamoriello knows him. He will be properly punished by Barry Trotz.
This is not the kind of trade that secures a Stanley Cup for the islanders. But it’s the kind of trade that, if they are so blessed to lift the chalice at the end of the season, will consider that they have added vital pieces to complete the puzzle. And it didn’t cost them anything, since the return didn’t include a top-level perspective and included a first-round pick in a very mysterious draft.
If the Palmieri market was as robust as it looked (the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins were among the teams according to those concerned), we wonder if the Devils could not have acquired any prospect, rather than a first down. a round selection in a draft that many CEOs admit is a complete overhaul thanks to the lack of in-person scouting and other COVID-19-related impacts.
Essentially, that was what it was all about: Palmieri for the first round. Greer and Jobst are deep talents in expiring contracts, though Greer has the potential to contribute. The commercial value of Zajac was extremely limited due to its age, efficiency, and full trade clause. It would probably be a team in the New York metropolitan area or it would come home to Winnipeg, or it was nothing. Thus, it is the fourth conditional condition for Zajac.
As I wrote earlier, this is a strange trade term for the NHL. Perhaps considering all the strange forces affecting the teams, this was the best return GM Tom Fitzgerald could get for Palmieri in a low season. We will know for sure when the dust is reached after Monday’s deadline.
And it’s not ruled out that the Devils have picked the first round for a player who will return to their roster next season through an unrestricted free agency. Fitzgerald described Palmieri as “a business decision between Kyle and this organization at this time.” I asked Fitzgerald about this possibility; he closed it by saying that Palmieri is now on another team and that he cannot comment. That wasn’t a “no.”
Still, the value he would return to New Jersey for keeping 50% of the two players ’salaries should have been a little more than a low-round first, two depth players and a fourth-round selection that became in a third if the Islanders reach the Stanley Cup Final.
Now they are left with the hope that the islanders stumble a bit to make the first round higher. Well, everyone but their GM is waiting for it, apparently.
“I hope the choice we get is the 32nd. I hope both gentlemen win the Cup,” Fitzgerald said.