Islanders Linked To Conor Garland
4:24 p.m.: Myers is no longer part of conversations between the Islanders and Canucks, Rosner reports. Whether that’s because he invoked his no-movement clause is unknown.
3:11 p.m.: The Islanders are in “serious discussions” to acquire winger Conor Garland from the Canucks, Stefen Rosner of NHL.com reports. Defenseman Tyler Myers could also be headed to the Isles in the deal if he’s willing to waive his no-movement clause, something that’s been holding up a deal ever since he was removed from Vancouver’s lineup to avoid an injury risk last week.
The Isles aren’t alone in their push to acquire Garland this week, particularly among their competitors in the Eastern Conference playoff race. CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal had the Isles’ pursuit of Garland this morning, along with the Bruins and Senators as interested parties. As we covered over the weekend, there’s a connection between Garland and Sens head coach Travis Green, who used to oversee him in Vancouver.
Nonetheless, Rosner’s reporting indicates the Islanders have at least emerged as frontrunners, even if it’s not a done deal. The Isles have been looking to add players with term after adding Ondrej Palat and Carson Soucy in a pair of trades before the Olympic break, and are open to moving a first-round pick to do so, general manager Mathieu Darche said in January.
The Isles have persisted through a pair of early-season blows that saw defender Alexander Romanov and winger Kyle Palmieri – both important supporting pieces – sustain season-ending injuries (although Romanov could be an option to return in a first-round playoff series). Soucy and Palat emerged as cheap replacements weeks later, but the Isles have gone 6-2-0 since acquiring them to boost their playoff chances up to around 75%, per MoneyPuck.
That has Darche looking to reward his team for pushing through the blows dealt by the Romanov and Palmieri injuries, and he’s comfortable sparing the assets to do it with the success he had in restocking the organization’s cupboards at last year’s draft. Now armed with a franchise cornerstone on defense in Matthew Schaefer, he’ll need to assess what he’s willing to move to boost an offense that ranks 21st in the league at 2.92 goals per game.
Garland would go a long way toward doing that and, with the six-year, $36MM extension he signed last summer yet to kick in, is far from a rental option. In addition to boosting their forward corps this season, he becomes a controllable insurance policy for next year and beyond in case they can’t manage to come to agreements with pending UFAs Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau before July 1.
That’s assuming the 29-year-old’s struggles this season are more a product of him being on a last-place team in Vancouver rather than individual decline. The 5’10” winger has never been an exceptional finisher, relying more on consistent shot volume to hover around 20 goals a year. Even so, his shooting percentage is down to 6.8 this year, resulting in him only lighting the lamp seven times through 49 games. On the whole, his 25 points make for his worst per-game showing since his rookie year in Arizona back in 2018-19.
Between 2019 and 2025, though, Garland was incredibly consistent. Aside from a career-best 0.80 points per game rate in the shortened 2020-21 season, his average stayed in a relatively small window between 0.57 and 0.68. Just last season, his 19 goals and 50 points were only a few short of setting a career high in each category.
Myers isn’t a pure rental either, but is a shorter-term pickup with another year left after this one at a $3MM cap hit. His shutdown ability is less of a need with the Isles already boasting the fifth-best defense in the league, but they could view him as a short-term upgrade over Scott Mayfield , who’s struggled to control possession in his third-pairing role. That’s in spite of Mayfield having better boxcar stats across the board this season, but Myers has dealt with a much more difficult workload in higher deployment.
If the Isles were to acquire both, they’d have to move out a contract if Vancouver isn’t retaining any salary, even with Garland’s current $4.95MM cap hit before it jumps to $6MM next season. That could be winger Anthony Duclair if he’s willing to waive his no-trade clause – David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported over the weekend that they were shopping him.
Trade Deadline Primer: New York Islanders
With the Olympic break over, the trade deadline is under a week away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? Next up is the Islanders.
The Islanders made some big moves last summer, sending defenseman Noah Dobson to the Montreal Canadiens and drafting Matthew Schaefer with the first overall pick. Many pundits weren’t sure what the Islanders would be this season, but they have surprised some folks by becoming a playoff contender with a roster that doesn’t have much flash but is solid enough to compete in the Eastern Conference. The Islanders have won on the back of strong team defense and goaltending this season, and despite the lack of skill in their lineup, they’ve managed to score enough to win games.
Record
33-21-5, 3rd in the Metropolitan
Deadline Status
Buyer
Deadline Cap Space
$6.02MM on deadline day, 0/3 retention slots used, 49/50 contracts used, per PuckPedia.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2026: NYI 1st, COL 1st, NJD 3rd, NYI 4th, NYI 5th, NYI 6th, NYI 7th
2027: NYI 1st, NYI 2nd, NYI 3rd, NYI 4th, NYI 5th, NYI 6th, NJD 6th, NYI 7th
Trade Chips
The Islanders have built up their prospect pool in recent seasons thanks to several successful first-round picks. The team likely has a top ten pipeline and the assets to be aggressive on the trade front if the money works. That ranking doesn’t include defenseman Schaefer, who went straight to the NHL, but there is no chance New York moves him anytime soon.
Setting aside the Islanders’ lottery win, they have done some good business in the trade market, moving on from Dobson and Brock Nelson for very strong returns. From these two trades, the team ended up with Victor Eklund, Kashawn Aitcheson and Calum Ritchie. Those three are all arguably among the top 100 NHL prospects at the moment and are a big reason the Islanders now have one of the best prospect systems in the NHL.
If the Islanders moved any of those three players, they would have one of the better trade chips available in terms of future value. Eklund’s skill is among his strongest assets, along with his top-notch skating. Those traits would make him appealing to every team in the league, but his ability to battle could be the best feature of his game. Eklund battles from whistle to whistle and isn’t afraid to play with reckless abandon.
Aitcheson is a physical defender who plays an old-school game that should resonate with the Long Island crowd. Aitcheson could one day be a top-pairing, bruising defenseman who plays a stay-at-home game alongside a more offensively minded partner. Aitcheson’s game isn’t flashy, but he is safe and responsible in his own end, bringing an intensity to the ice that few could match. His ability to give the opponent absolutely nothing to work with could eventually earn him a reputation as the NHL’s ultimate shutdown man, provided he improves his average skating and harnesses his intimidating presence.
Ritchie saw his draft stock slide a few years ago as he focused more on becoming a 200-foot player rather than simply being a point producer. It paid off in terms of his overall game, but he did slide in the NHL draft rankings before being scooped up by the Avalanche late in the first round (27th overall) of the 2023 draft. Ritchie possesses a mean shot that should translate well to the NHL, particularly on the power play. He also has elite hockey sense, anticipating plays before they happen and hunting down soft areas of the ice to get himself open or in the right spot at the right time.
Finally, we come to another first-round pick, forward Cole Eiserman. The 20-year-old isn’t an imposing presence, but he loves to throw his body around and doesn’t mind taking a hit to make a play. Eiserman will cruise to the front of the net in the offensive zone to stir up some disruption, but he does most of his scoring from a distance with his shot, which was considered one of the best during his draft eligibility.
Team Needs
A Top Six Forward: The Islanders gambled this summer when they signed forward Jonathan Drouin to a two-year deal, hoping he could fill an offensive role in the top six. While he hasn’t produced what GM Mathieu Darche hoped, he has chipped in with some offense and remains a good gamble. That being said, New York needs more from its top two lines, and bringing in a Jordan Kyrou-type from St. Louis would go a long way toward adding to an offense that is currently 22nd in the league. The Islanders could also look at Kyrou’s teammate, Robert Thomas, if the Blues were open to it, or take a long look at some of the forwards the Vancouver Canucks have made available, such as Elias Pettersson.
Depth Scoring: The Islanders need more offense from the bottom of their lineup and could look at a player like Michael Bunting of Nashville, who has a long history of providing depth offense on good hockey teams. Bunting is a UFA at the end of the season and has been effective as a depth scorer in Toronto, Pittsburgh and Nashville. If Bunting isn’t an option and the Islanders want to look at a pure shooter, Patrik Laine of the Montreal Canadiens would be a player who could fit simply as a triggerman. Laine doesn’t play much of a two-way game, but on a team like the Islanders, where he would be defensively insulated, it might be a great fit for a once-great goalscorer who has fallen on hard times in Montreal. Laine isn’t a prototypical depth player, but at this point, there isn’t much to his game away from the puck, and with all of his injury concerns, he could likely be acquired for very little.
Islanders Shopping Anthony Duclair
The Islanders have deemed themselves at least soft buyers heading into the deadline after their pickups of Carson Soucy and Ondřej Palát before the Olympic break. One thing they don’t have a bevy of is cap space. Their roughly $6MM is enough to wheel and deal on deadline day, but that’s with the club using a good deal of long-term injured reserve placements.
One option the club has pursued this season to continue shuffling the deck is moving on from the remainder of Anthony Duclair‘s contract, according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. Pagnotta writes that dealing Duclair is something they’ve been open to all season, but with the winger holding a full no-trade clause, their options will be limited if they have any at all.
It’s not hard to see why the Islanders would be willing to part ways with Duclair. He’s rebounded somewhat with a 12-14–26 scoring line in 54 games this year, but he’s still performing below his career average and is coming off a disastrous first year on Long Island last season, derailed by an early-season leg injury.
With Duclair churning out at least capable third-line scoring numbers this season, though, his $3.5MM cap hit through 2027-28 suddenly becomes more palatable to potential suitors. The 6’0″ lefty has been prone to some wild year-to-year swings in his career, but is still a 20-goal, 42-point man on average per 82 games.
For a team that just added Palát through next season and is looking to get young center Calum Ritchie more ice time moving forward, the Isles could stand to drop a forward with term. They don’t have many pending UFAs up front, and the ones they do, Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, are well-respected veterans they likely have at least some interest in retaining – especially Lee, their captain who’s spent all 14 of his NHL seasons with the club.
Of course, it all depends on Duclair being amenable to a specific change of scenery. If not, they’ll have to wait until the summer when his NTC downgrades to a 16-team no-trade list on July 1 to open up more options.
That may be the better move anyway. The Isles have a 66.3% shot at ending up in the playoff picture (per MoneyPuck), but won’t get there because of an excess of scoring. Duclair’s 12 goals are tied for seventh on the team, and his 26 points are sixth. That’s valuable production for a team scoring 2.86 goals per game, 22nd in the league.
Islanders, Blues Swap Matt Luff, Julien Gauthier
The Islanders announced Tuesday that they’ve acquired forward Matt Luff from the Blues in exchange for Julien Gauthier. Both players were on AHL assignments at the time of the deal and will report to their new affiliates without needing to re-clear waivers.
Luff, 28, has held a very limited role as a call-up in St. Louis this season. He’s only appeared in five games, during which he’s scored once with a -2 rating. Head coach Jim Montgomery used Luff in the fourth-line slot he’s held for most of his career whenever he’s gotten a chance at the top level, averaging a career-low 9:08 of ice time per game. His lone call-up that led to playing time, back in December, marked his first NHL action since the 2022-23 campaign with the Red Wings.
In the interim, the 6’3″ Luff has been an exceptional minor-league producer. He’s appeared in 321 AHL games over the last 10 seasons, split between the Kings, Predators, Red Wings, Panthers, and Blues organizations, recording 0.78 points per game. The both-sides winger has clicked closer to a point per game over the last few seasons, though, and has 14 goals and 39 points in 42 games for the Springfield Thunderbirds this season. While the Isles do pick up Luff’s 111 games of NHL experience, he immediately becomes Bridgeport’s leading point-getter and will essentially operate as an AHL rental and call-up insurance before becoming an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Gauthier can be a similarly impactful AHL producer when healthy, but that’s been a rarity since he first signed with the Islanders in 2023. The former first-round pick last appeared in the NHL in October 2024 and has only made 25 AHL appearances since then, recording an 8-7–15 scoring line in that timeframe. The Isles were reportedly looking to find a fresh start for him, according to Stefen Rosner of NHL.com, even though he was set to become a UFA this summer anyway.
The 28-year-old Gauthier will now make the Blues his fifth NHL organization. Selected 21st overall by the Hurricanes in 2016, the 6’4″ power forward was involved in a change-of-scenery swap with the Rangers four years later before being leveraged as bait to land Tyler Motte from the Senators at the 2023 trade deadline. He then landed with the Isles as a non-tendered RFA, and he ends his time there with nine points in 28 NHL games as well as 25 points in 40 games for Bridgeport, giving him just 68 total appearances over the last three years.
Alexander Romanov Resumes Skating
- According to Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News, defenseman Alexander Romanov resumed skating for the first time since undergoing shoulder surgery in mid-November. Unfortunately, despite the encouraging update, there is no change to his recovery timeline. Romanov, who’s tallied one assist in 15 games this season, isn’t expected to return this season unless the New York Islanders reach the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
[SOURCE LINK]
Islanders Sign Scott Reedy To AHL Tryout
The AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders have signed center Scott Reedy to a professional tryout, per Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News. He has yet to play this season.
Reedy’s return to hockey comes over 11 months after his last appearance of any kind and nearly four years after his last NHL game. A fourth-round pick by the Sharks in 2017, he developed nicely over four seasons at the University of Minnesota and capped off his collegiate career with an All-Star, point-per-game campaign in 2020-21.
He turned pro and split the following season evenly between San Jose’s NHL and AHL clubs. He did well enough in a bottom-six role, scoring seven goals and a pair of assists in 35 games while seeing 11:11 of ice time per night. The speedy 6’2″ pivot also recorded 18 goals and 27 points in just 38 AHL games, leading to optimism he could be a solid depth contributor at the NHL level.
Reedy never got another chance, though. He was limited to five goals and 15 points in 38 AHL games the following season before being traded to the Stars. He was highly productive when healthy over the next season and a half, but was decimated by injuries. From his acquisition in March 2023 to the end of his contract following 2023-24, he only managed 30 appearances for AHL Texas while recording 11 goals and 17 points.
The Minnesota native went unqualified by the Stars that summer and ended up going unsigned until December, when he landed an AHL tryout from the Predators’ minor-league affiliate in Milwaukee. He finished out the year with four goals and nine points in 25 games before becoming a free agent again.
He’ll take the same pathway to playing time this time around, albeit with only about two months left in the campaign. He joins a much-improved Bridgeport roster that’s hovering around .500 this season after finishing with a disastrous 15-50-7 record in 2024-25.
Victor Eklund Expected To Play In North America Next Season
It has been a solid post-draft season for Islanders prospect Victor Eklund. Making the jump to the SHL level for the first time, he has put up 16 points in 34 games with Djurgardens while averaging 14:38 of playing time.
However, even though he’s playing a regular role at home, it appears that the Islanders have other plans for him next season. Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News relays (Twitter link) that Eklund is expected to play in North America next season, either with New York or the minors where their farm team is expected to relocate from Bridgeport to Hamilton for 2026-27.
The 19-year-old was the 16th overall pick back in June, the second of back-to-back selections that were acquired as part of the Noah Dobson trade. Eklund spent last season in the second-tier Allsvenskan with Djurgardens, helping them earn a promotion to the top level this season. Heading into the draft, he was largely a consensus top-10 selection so the Isles certainly felt fortunate to get him where they did.
On top of his play in the SHL this season, Eklund served as an alternate captain for Sweden at the most recent World Juniors, a country that won their first gold medal in the event in 14 years. He finished tied for fourth on the team in scoring with two goals and six assists in seven games. That was a small improvement in points over his first time in the event in 2024-25 when he had four goals and two helpers in seven contests.
Eklund has already signed his entry-level contract, a three-year deal that technically began this season. However, since he isn’t playing in ten or more NHL games this season, the start of the deal will slide, meaning Eklund will still have three years left on his deal when he makes his debut in North America next season.
Jonathan Drouin Misses Game With Illness
- New York Islanders forward Jonathan Drouin missed the team’s loss yesterday with an illness, per a team announcement. Drouin, who has 20 points in 48 games this season, had been skating on a top-six line with the Islanders alongside Mathew Barzal and Anthony Duclair. Head coach Patrick Roy elected to elevate rookie Maxim Shabanov into Drouin’s role as his response to Drouin’s illness. While it’s not known exactly how long Drouin will miss as a result of being under the weather, it would be safe to consider him day-to-day.
Ritchie Out Until After Olympics, Cizikas Returns Tonight
- Islanders winger Calum Ritchie has been shut down until after the Olympic break, relays Stefan Rosner of The Hockey News. The rookie is dealing with a lower-body injury sustained last weekend and tried to skate on his own on Friday but wasn’t doing well enough to realistically be considered as an option to return over the next few days. Ritchie has been eased into his first full season of NHL action and has seven goals and eight assists in 40 games this season while averaging a little over 12 minutes per night.
- Still with the Islanders, the team announced that veteran Casey Cizikas will return to the lineup tonight against Nashville after missing Thursday’s contest due to illness. The 34-year-old has 14 points and 108 hits in 53 games this season but his playing time has dropped to 11:34 per game, his lowest since the 2012-13 campaign. Cizikas will take Max Shabanov’s place in the lineup tonight.
Islanders Open To Moving A First-Round Pick
The Islanders were busy in the first round of the draft last season, adding Matthew Schaefer first overall while making back-to-back selections in the middle of the round as part of the trade return for Noah Dobson. Thanks to the Brock Nelson trade last season, they have an extra pick on the opening night of the draft again this season.
But it appears that their goal might be to turn one of those selections into some win-now help. Speaking with reporters today (video link), GM Mathieu Darche indicated that the team is open to moving one of their first-round selections.
Darche has been busy in recent days, utilizing his LTIR space to add defenseman Carson Soucy and winger Ondrej Palat (plus two draft picks). They effectively serve as replacements for Alexander Romanov and Kyle Palmieri. However, Pierre Engvall is also out for the year and on LTIR while Semyon Varlamov hasn’t played at all this season and a return is unlikely. He’s also on LTIR and if the team knows he’s not returning, his LTIR room can be used. Combined, the team has around $6MM in space, per PuckPedia. That gives Darche lots of flexibility to work with.
A willingness to part with a first-round pick should only pique the interest of rebuilding teams or those who decide to become sellers in the coming weeks. Speculatively, Darche’s preference would be to move Colorado’s selection rather than their own since the former will be in the back few selections of the round while New York’s at the moment is closer to the late teens or low 20s.
Every year, several buyers move out a first-round selection and that pick can often yield an impact performer. With the Islanders being willing to part with one of those picks, they could be shopping in a higher tier of the market than their last two moves.