Offseason Checklist: New York Islanders

The 35-year-old has never been a high-end point producer, with his personal best being 62, set back in the 2017-18 campaign.  However, he has been a steady scorer, notching at least 20 goals in eight of the last ten seasons.  This season was one of the exceptions but he still managed 19, suggesting the big falloff in production hasn’t happened yet.

Although Lee is more of a middle-six forward than a top liner at this stage of his career, he’s set to benefit from a thin UFA class.  While he certainly won’t come close to another seven-year deal at this stage of his career, it wouldn’t be entirely shocking if his AAV came in fairly close to this now-expiring contract.  For example, AFP Analytics projects that a three-year deal for Lee would check in at a little over $6.6MM per season.  That would certainly carry some risk for a player coming off a 42-point campaign but there’s also a wide expectation of some sticker shock on UFA contracts this summer.  Alternatively, Lee could sign a one-year deal that makes him eligible for performance bonuses, giving the signing team a bit more cap flexibility.

Will the Islanders be that signing team?  Darche would likely prefer to keep his captain around but he also needs to make some changes to a group that missed the playoffs and also try to get a bit more speed up front.  But if he can keep Lee in the fold and shake the team up elsewhere, that might be his Plan A.  We’ll see in the next five weeks or so if that plan works out.

Open Up Cap Space

To try to give his team some boosts, Darche added a pair of pricey contracts up front.  First, they brought in Ondrej Palat from the Devils to help try to backfill Kyle Palmieri’s season-ending injury.  Then, at the trade deadline, they paid a high price to add Brayden Schenn from St. Louis.  In doing so, they took on an extra $12.5MM in spending for next season.  They also went deep into LTIR to do so, meaning that the $3.5MM in bonuses Matthew Schaefer earned will all count against the books in 2026-27.

As a result, the Isles enter the summer with around $12.5MM in cap room, per PuckPedia.  If they want to re-sign Lee, bring in goalie insurance, and likely a depth defender or two with Carson Soucy and Adam Boqvist set to hit the open market, they’ll basically be out of money at that point.  While Pierre Engvall could wind up staying on LTIR, that’s not enough to move the needle in terms of giving them flexibility.  And if he is cleared to return, waiving and sending him to the minors would only create $1.225MM in room.

There are some potential change-of-scenery candidates, especially up front.  Anthony Duclair simply hasn’t fit in over his first two seasons but now that there are only two years left on his deal (at a $3.5MM price tag), they might be able to offload that contract for cap flexibility.  With Palat not faring particularly well following the swap, moving the final year of his deal would require paying down part (if not the maximum of 50%) of it, he’s a potentially viable candidate.  Max Shabanov, a pending RFA, could potentially be flipped with an eye on replacing his back-end roster spot with someone making closer to the minimum salary.

Simply making one of these moves wouldn’t be enough to bring in anyone of consequence, assuming that Lee ultimately re-signs.  But if they can move out a couple of their higher-paid surplus depth pieces, they might be able to try to make an addition of consequence.

Add More Scoring

That addition of consequence, if they’re able to afford one, needs to come up front.  This is a team that has had trouble scoring for a while now.  The last time they were above-average in the goals scored department was back in 2017-18, when they finished seventh overall.  Five players from that team are still with the Isles, one of them being Lee (a pending UFA) and three more being defensemen.  Since then, they have been outside the top 20 in the goals scored department.

They upped their 2024-25 total by seven goals this season, bringing them to 229, or 2.79 per game, good for 25th in the league.  Another incremental gain would certainly help but if they want to become more than just a bubble Wild Card team, they’re going to need to aim higher.

New York had two forwards surpass the 50-point mark this season, Mathew Barzal (the other 2017-18 holdover) and Bo Horvat.  Lee was next at 42 and he may or may not be back.  It’s fair to say that there’s a definitive need for a top-six forward (or two, or three, potentially).  Of course, they’re probably not going to be able to afford to add multiple top-six forwards but even one would be a big addition.

In terms of trying to shore up their depth scoring, they could look internally.  Victor Eklund made his NHL debut at the end of the season and might not be too far away from being ready for an extended audition.  If he could be even a secondary contributor while Darche finds a way to add another decent scoring threat, that could go a long way toward getting them back into the top 20 in the goals department, bolstering their playoff hopes in the process.