The Islanders elected not to move pending UFA winger Kyle Palmieri by last Friday’s trade deadline after having some discussions about a possible contract extension. Pierre LeBrun recently reported in a piece for The Athletic (subscription link) that those talks have progressed since then with more progress being made. At this point, the two sides are believed to be quibbling over term. The 34-year-old speculatively would want more of a medium-term agreement while New York’s likely preference is something that doesn’t run quite as long. Palmieri has 20 goals and 21 assists through 65 games this season and should be able to command a price tag that’s somewhat close to the $5MM he’s making now.
More from the Metropolitan:
- Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov has missed the last week with an upper-body injury and won’t suit up against Philadelphia tonight. Team reporter Walt Ruff relays that the team is hopeful that the 24-year-old will be able to return to the lineup at some point next week. It has been a bit of a down year for Svechnikov who has 18 goals and 25 assists through 63 games, his lowest point-per-game average since his rookie year back in 2018-19.
- The Flyers will once again be without defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and winger Garnet Hathaway for their game against Carolina tonight, relays Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia (Twitter link). Ristolainen is dealing with an upper-body injury that caused him to miss Thursday’s game versus Tampa Bay while Hathaway, who has resumed skating, has missed the last two weeks with an upper-body injury of his own.
- Penguins winger Bokondji Imama has played in a career-high 11 NHL games this season after being recalled in late January. A pending unrestricted free agent, he recently told reporters including Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he’s hoping to remain with the organization for next season. At this point, a one-way contract likely remains out of reach but a two-way pact with a guarantee higher than the $400K he’s getting this season could be doable, especially if he plays somewhat of a regular role with Pittsburgh down the stretch.
This move completely shows how Grandpa Lou talks out of both sides of his mouth. He says that the team needs to get younger and faster, yet he only moves one forward out and wants to sign another to a contract. Two other players besides Palmieri that should have been moved at the deadline were Pageau, and Anders Lee. Both players had some value to playoff teams but here they remain. Because in his warped brain he still thinks this team can make the playoffs and get the crap beat out of it in the first round. You can’t make this team younger if you refuse to move on from what hasn’t worked for several seasons now. He refuses to call it a rebuild, rather he calls it a retool. Either way what he’s doing is not going to work when you refuse to admit these same players are not getting better. In fact some are regressing to the point where they are useless.