Lou sends longest tenured Islander Josh Bailey to Chicago along with the Isles' '26 2nd round pick for "future considerations". I don't mind seeing Bailey go. For what his cap hit is, he's just not good enough anymore. ***And Chicago immediately waived Bailey for a buyout. Wonder if Lou plans to take him back at a big discount.
Isles have about $9.5M in cap space right now, but also need a backup goalie (Varlamov?), RD (Mayfield?) and scoring (Engvall + Anyone!)
Also drafted C Danny Nelson in the 2nd round. 6'3", 203 lb MN kid, who idolizes Brock Nelson and is going to Notre Dame (where Anders Lee went). All adds up to success. I hope he makes the Isles soon so Butch Goring has to differentiate between Brock & Danny Nelson. That would be fun.
No 3rd round pick (part of Engvall trade).
4th rounder- Jessi Nurmi, LW, Kookoo Jr. (FINLAND-JR.). Kookoo.
5th rounder- Justin Gill, C. Overager. 6'1", 190 lbs. 93 points in the Q last year. Old enough to go straight to Bridgeport. I like it.
6th rounder- Zachary Schulz, D, USA U-18 (NTDP)
7th rounder- Dennis Good Bogg, D, Sweden. Won gold at U18 Junior Worlds, with 6 assists along the way.
Free agency starts just 2 days after the draft. Has it ever been that close before? Feels like there's usually at least a week in between. Seems like pure chaos for the GMs to have been working on drafting, potential trades, and talking to UFAs.