The New York Islanders offered a surprise Sunday, when the publicly released available/protected expansion draft lists revealed they had protected five defensemen.
Of the notable players left unprotected were Calvin de Haan, Ryan Strome and Brock Nelson. However, it appears the Islanders and Vegas Golden Knights may have quite a deal in place.
The Islanders have a deal in place to send their first-round pick to Vegas to steer the expansion franchise toward selecting a designated player off the Isles’ unprotected list, two NHL sources confirmed to Newsday on Monday.
TSN first reported the existence of the deal.
The player designated for selection is still unknown, though clearly the goal for general manager Garth Snow is to clear some salary-cap space to upgrade the team’s roster before next season.
Golden Knights general manager George McPhee has said that Monday is the last day for other clubs to make trades with Vegas.
He’s been quite clear that he would like to accumulate draft picks and future assets -- and he’ll certainly get that opportunity, publicly stating that he’d allow other GMs to negotiate deals with him in order for them to keep certain players they left unprotected but don’t want taken in the expansion draft.