NYIFC Trade Deadline Speculation:

New York Islander Fan Central | 3/03/2009 12:15:00 PM | | |
For now Wednesday's chat is still on at 1pm. We seem to have enough crawls, feeds and links so you miss nothing visiting here.

Everyone of course is welcome, just keep it classy and to hockey as we did last year.

Best live radio links for those without XM or NHL network are on the sidebar and those shows have trade deadline talk starting early tomorrow.

Cannot promise I will be here for live blogging until tomorrow morning.

One thing I think everyone can agree on is it's fantastic the Islanders do not have to play a hockey game Wednesday. Why the league/nhlpa cannot find two days off in there for the trade deadline I will never know.
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I expect a veteran or two could go and maybe a final call is made on Tambellini or even Comeau but between NTC, large long-term contracts for teams trying to gain cap space and Garth Snow no doubt looking to beef up his draft picks/prospect pool, I'm kind of expecting a quiet day for our team.

This is the kind of day you deal the equivalent of Mark Parrish and receive someone's Jeff Tambellini if you are out of contention and celebrate if you can unload Kvasha for any pick.

Look to the clubs Snow deals with frequently sometimes this comes down to how some gm's negotiate with one another.

A lot of this is trends too. How many times does Garth Snow or the pro scouts watch teams they are done playing?

The new CBA did change this league beyond front-loaded deals, NTC, NVC & a hard cap simply makes some clubs limited players at the deadline. Cannot buy your way out of trouble all the way with long-term cap hits come July 1st so you have to pick spots.

Sooner or later you have to sit one out. The days of 80m dollar payrolls and corporate clubs absorbing huge losses for an advantage are no longer possible unless they just keep buying players out or going with re-entry waivers.

For the Islanders they cannot play to the cap financially and have Yashin's hit going up soon. What big bucks they can offer will have to come in the summer unless Snow can get a signed deal from a pending UFA beforehand.

That's asking a lot as we read about last year when a player had to decide on coming here and consent to a trade within an hour.

Maybe a prospect, a Rob Davison type to backstop the defense unless Meyer, Sutton, Pock will play again but not much else.

Guerin will do what he wants if presented with something. He may be gone, he might even decide to stay and simply go UFA in the summer or even resign. I think Doug Weight will have the greater value with of course Witt if the right offer comes.

If I'm Garth Snow I'm absolutely listening to offers for Trent Hunter, he simply is not a consistent enough scorer for all the things he does, maybe it's time to admit since that knee on knee long ago we have never seen the same player even during his best streaks.

How many playoff teams in this league are going to put Guerin or Weight in their top six at this point in his career? What Bruce Boudreau in Washington said is going to apply to a lot of winning teams which is no knock on Guerin-Weight but you don't break up a winning chemistry for thirty eight year old players.

Guerin was a playoff rental for San Jose before he came here two years ago for a first round pick, did not work out very well statistically.

Does Sim's recent play get him traded or waived) or a full time spot again?
McAmmond has his two goals and looked good, who knows?
I have no doubt teams will call about Radek Martinek.
For me, it's Park or Hilbert, not both. Bergenheim's shorthanded play recently makes me think Park is more expendable.

Seems like Nate Thompson is simply going to keep his spot regardless of what he does statistically which for now only seems faceoff related. He cannot have any real trade value after being claimed off waivers.

I do believe Snow might have to take back a few players to stay above the cap if he trades multiple veterans and keep his team in Bridgeport closing on first place with enough depth together.

I have little doubt Walter, Colliton are in play as fillers to deals, maybe even Dustin Kohn. If I'm in Snow's spot Meyer's roster spot is in play.

If I'm gm I want more size, speed and scoring skill in whatever players I get back in trades I wish to keep beyond this season.

This is also the week I would not be shocked if Joel Rechlicz gets his first NHL look but that's after the deadline.

One more day we get all our answers, I expect a mostly quiet day and some more draft picks.

Last year was a different landscape, the Islanders were at a point they were in contention and kept things together.



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