3 Islanders’ Contracts That Should Be Moved in 2024 Offseason

The second option is to retain Lee’s deal. If the team could get his salary down to the $4 or $5 million range, he will most definitely receive positive value. This could be anywhere from a second-round selection to a fourth or fifth depending on the suitors. The third option would be to buy him out. This would invoke four seasons of dead money on the books. The first season would be a $2.875 million charge, followed by $4.225 million with the final two seasons being $1.725 million each. This would not be the end of the world, but having these charges while still trying to contend would not be ideal.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau

Jean-Gabriel Pageau is the most likely Islander to be moved. He is yet to hit the 20-goal mark in a single season as an Islander, and his $5 million salary for the next two seasons is far too much to be paying an unproductive third-line center. The talent is there, but it is time to move on for both sides.

Just like Lee, Pageau has three paths to being moved, but there are only two likely avenues to go down. The first, and most likely scenario, is he gets traded without retention. Despite being overpaid, many young teams would love to add a player like Pageau. In an elevated role, he would most definitely return to 20-goal form while also being a dominant defensive center. The value returned would likely be negligible, but he would likely get a mid to late-round pick. If not, it shouldn’t cost much more than a mid-round pick to tag alongside Pageau to move him.

The second option is to buy him out. This would only be utilized if there were no trade suitors, and it is truthfully not too bad of an option. His buyout would span over four seasons, coming in at a $2.25 million charge the first, followed by $2.75 million the second, and $1.725 million the final two. He would likely be replaced by Casey Cizikas on the third line with Kyle MacLean taking over on the fourth line, so the saved money could be used elsewhere.

Scott Mayfield

There is one thing to make clear in stating Scott Mayfield should be traded, and it is that the original signing was an issue. To be dishing out $3.5 million per season for seven seasons for a third-pairing defenseman is virtually always a poor decision, regardless of who the player is. Despite it being a tough season for Mayfield, there should be no doubt he can return to his former self in the 2024-25 season. He had multiple stints on the injured list, and recently got season-ending surgery, causing him to miss the playoffs. Many believed he spent the majority of the season playing hurt, and that would not be surprising considering he looked so different from his prior form.

There are two key issues with moving on from Mayfield, being he has a full no-trade clause for another three seasons and he signed his extension with Lou Lamoriello just last offseason. If Lamoriello were to move on from Mayfield just one season into his seven-year contract, he would be admitting he made a bad decision, and he has yet to do that with the Islanders. As well, Mayfield would need to waive his no-trade clause, which is hard to imagine considering he likely desires to live on Long Island in the long term given his long-term contract.

Regardless, the Islanders should move on from Mayfield if he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause. The issue with him is not even the $3.5 million cap hit or the term, but rather the fit. The Islanders have Noah Dobson and Ryan Pulock, who both are expected to stick around in the long term. In other words, Mayfield will be stuck on the third pair for the duration of his contract, and paying a third-pairing defenseman $3.5 million is a recipe for disaster.

A buyout would last 12 seasons, so that is out of the question, and Lamoriello would never retain salary for the next six seasons, so paying straight up is the only way to shed this contract. It would depend a lot on the interest and where Mayfield would be willing to play, but the Islanders should cough up whatever the price is to shed his deal, even if it required their first-round pick in 2024.

The value obtained from the freed $3.5 million would go a long way in boosting the rest of the roster and replacing Mayfield would be easy. This season when together, Mike Reilly and Sebastion Aho had a 55.7 expected goals percentage in 32 games, according to Moneypuck, an impressive total for any team’s third pair. Both Reilly and Aho are pending free agents, but neither should cost more than $1.5 million, saving a few million dollars against the salary cap.

While Lamoriello has historically stuck with his guys, it may finally be time to see him move on from some key players. In the 2023 offseason, he shipped out respected veteran Josh Bailey as a result of poor play, so there should be no reason to believe he would shy away from any of these players if given the right offer.