The Islanders shouldn’t be done on the trade front

The New York Islanders made the first big “splash” of the trade deadline season, but the team shouldn’t shy away from making more moves before March.

On Monday, the Islanders went out and traded a third-round pick to the New York Rangers in exchange for defenseman Carson Soucy, bolstering the team’s back end.

While that certainly helps the Isles in one position, there are plenty of areas of the lineup the team could bolster, as the group has put itself in contention to not only make it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but possibly win a round.

On Tuesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton discuss what the Islanders could do moving forward.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I don’t think you go give up a third-round pick for that guy if you plan on just standing pat for the rest of the deadline period. … If you’re looking around that Metro and you’re the New York Islanders…are you sitting there maybe going, ‘We have a legit chance at winning a playoff round.’ If you win one, who knows what can happen, and if you have Ilya Sorokin playing at the level he’s at, teams might be a little scared of you. I’m saying all of this as – I don’t think they’re going to be done.

I went into this year saying Mathieu Darche has a lot of leash. He is a first-time GM, getting a look at a team that just picked first overall and got Matthew Schaefer. There’s some runway here for him to not necessarily be overly aggressive, but who knows? Maybe he’s looking around and saying, ‘Oh, the market is what the market is. we maybe have a chance to win a playoff round.’ I wouldn’t mind seeing him go out, maybe adding a forward to the mix.

Carter Hutton: I also think there’s going to be pressure coming from a head coach who demands excellence, who wants to win. We’ve seen Patrick Roy go and demand a trade for himself. Maybe he’s going and demand for a trade to beef up his team. … I think on the other side of it is like, ‘Well, you know, like not making the playoffs and getting a better pick can help.’ But just getting a seat in there and getting some revenue for your organization and experience has so much value as well on the shoulders of a young Matthew Schaefer, who’s been unbelievable, too. So, there is a lot of good going on in the New York Islanders.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…