Islanders won’t pursue extension with veteran winger yet

Winger Anders Lee has been a fixture in the lineup for the Islanders for more than a decade now.  He’s entering the final year of his contract which makes him eligible to sign a contract extension.  However, in an interview for The Athletic with Pierre LeBrun (subscription link), GM Mathieu Darche indicated that their plan is not to pursue a new deal with the captain just yet:

I said to him, ‘Let’s start the year and see where it goes.’ No urgency on his side, on my side. He’s the captain of our team, and I really like the individual. But I’m new to the team, right? There’s no one that’s on an expiring deal, that has one year left, that I’ve re-signed. It’s not because I don’t want to, I had enough on my plate this summer. I’ve got a great relationship with Anders.

The 35-year-old is entering the final season of a seven-year, $49MM contract that has held up okay over the life of the agreement.  He signed it not too far removed from a career-best 40-goal season, a mark that he hasn’t come close to reaching since then.  However, Lee has scored at least 20 goals in five of the first six seasons of the agreement with the one year he didn’t get there being 2020-21 when he was limited to just 27 games.

After a tough showing in 2023-24, Lee rebounded quite nicely last season, collecting 29 goals and 25 assists in 82 games.  Notably, his goal and point totals were the highest he has put up on this contract, suggesting that he still has plenty left in the tank and that he’s someone the Isles should want to keep around a little longer.

Earlier this summer, AFP Analytics projected that an extension for Lee could cost around $6.275MM per season on a two-year deal.  That would represent a small cut from what he’s making now but within the context of a quickly changing salary cap environment, that would seemingly represent a reasonable deal for both sides.

But at the same time, it makes sense for Darche to hold off for now.  He’s still getting to know his new team and if things don’t go well in the early going this season, he might have to pivot from his current approach of not rebuilding.  In that scenario, Lee could potentially become one of their better trade chips so keeping their options open makes sense from an organizational standpoint.  Meanwhile, if things are looking up a few months in, that would still leave plenty of time for Darche and Lee’s camp to start discussions to keep him in New York even longer.