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Ryan S. Clark
Defenseman Noah Dobson was on the heart of a trade Friday between the Montreal Canadiens and New York Islanders with the thought each franchises are heading in several instructions.
The Canadiens received Dobson after he’d signed an eight-year contract extension price $9.5 million yearly with the Islanders Friday. New York received ahead Emil Heineman and each of the Canadiens’ 2025 first-round picks, No. 16 and No. 17.
This is how each entrance workplaces carried out and what it means for either side going ahead.
If there’s a possibility to get a 25-year-old, right-handed taking pictures, top-pairing, puck-moving defenseman that may play in each situation — who can be packaged in a 6-4 body — that is a transfer a GM ought to make.
However, it is finished with the complete understanding that it’ll price fairly a bit, and that is what makes the choice by Canadiens GM Kent Hughes one which’s slightly emphatic due to what it alerts about his crew.
Particularly, the Canadiens are critical about making their 2025 playoff look a daily prevalence, with the purpose of successful a Stanley Cup throughout the close to future.
Future. That is the phrase which is on the coronary heart of what this commerce represented for the Canadiens. Having two first-round picks is a profit. For a crew in a rebuild, it is an opportunity to construct towards what they consider is a stronger future, whereas playoff groups — or these on the cusp — use them as commerce chips to amass somebody who could make them higher now.
Hughes took the latter choice with this deal, and it offers the Canadiens with what seems to be one of many extra attractive younger defensive setups within the NHL.
Dobson, who has scored 10 or extra objectives in 4 straight seasons, provides to a gaggle of younger Canadiens’ defensemen that features reigning Calder Trophy winner Lane Hutson, Kaiden Guhle and Jayden Struble. The Habs even have latest first-round picks Logan Mailloux and David Reinbacher of their system.
That is six defenseman all youthful than 25. 4 of them are first-round picks, whereas the remainders have been second-round picks (together with Hutson). That is what’s known as an issue. Or slightly, it has the potential to create an issue due to what that assortment may obtain over time.
However then there’s the precise “downside” going through Hughes now that he has Dobson below contract, in that the Habs are actually $3.394 million over the wage cap (per PuckPedia), whereas having seven defensemen below contract or crew management for 2025-26.
It’ll pressure Hughes to determine which defenseman the Canadiens transfer on from to clear cap area, whereas additionally having the mandatory group to make the aforementioned playoff push. Veteran Mike Matheson has one yr left on his contract at $4.88 million earlier than he turns into an unrestricted free agent, whereas Alexandre Carrier has two years remaining at $3.75 million yearly earlier than he hits the open market.
Getting that scenario dealt with sooner slightly than later not solely permits the Habs to realize extra monetary flexibility ought to they wish to do extra, however additionally they have a pair of RFAs in Struble and Jakub Dobes who’re in want of recent offers.
New Islanders GM Mathieu Darche spent six seasons within the Tampa Bay Lightning‘s entrance workplace, permitting him to understand the worth of sure objects. One in all them is the worth of constructing a long-term winner by way of the draft.
GMs working lottery groups must have a stage of honesty and understanding in regards to the route of their franchise. That is what makes something the Islanders do in Darche’s first offseason much more important.
That is to not say that Dobson could not have been a part of these long-term plans on Lengthy Island. However there’s additionally one thing to be mentioned for figuring out the strongest potential worth a participant has in your franchise, and figuring out that this worth is bigger with a return like one which Darche received right here.
What Darche acquired in alternate for a top-pairing defenseman in Dobson will play a big function in shaping the Islanders for the subsequent decade, if not longer.
Having the No. 1 decide was a place to begin towards that future — and it is doubtless he’ll add proficient defenseman Matthew Schaefer with that decide. However by now including two extra first-round picks, he has much more choices.
Darche and his workers could determine that they wish to hold each picks they acquired from the Canadiens, and draft three gamers. In any case, they’d be including extra to a system that, regardless of having 2024 first-rounder Cole Eiserman, is in distinct want of expertise. A part of the rationale for that’s that the Isles have had 4 draft courses since 2018 (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023) by which they didn’t have a first-round decide.
Or does Darche look to repackage one or each of these picks in one other commerce, with the hope of doing one thing else he and his workers consider can set them up for even better success over the long run?
Though the long run is in focus, there’s additionally one thing to be mentioned in regards to the current and what it means now that Dobson is gone. The Islanders now have 5 defensemen below contract, and 7 who’re below crew management with a pair of pending RFAs in Scott Perunovich and Alexander Romanov. Tony DeAngelo and Mike Reilly are UFAs from the 2024-25 roster.
The Islanders have $20.934 million in cap area (per PuckPedia), which can be utilized to handle their defensive wants together with no matter else they should deal with this summer season; that features re-signing Heineman, who’s an RFA after scoring 10 objectives and 18 factors in 62 video games throughout his first full NHL season.