Isles, Vegas Complete 9 Player Swap
Feb 27, 2024 16:26:27 GMT -5
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Post by NY Islanders GM on Feb 27, 2024 16:26:27 GMT -5
ELMONT, NY - Long time Alternate Captain Erik Johnson is no longer an Islander.
Fans will have a hard time getting past that factoid before they even get into the rest of the deal, and it is a doozy.
The Islanders announced Monday night they have acquired defensemen Neal Pionk and Luke Schenn, and forwards Nino Niederreiter and Chris Tierney from Vegas. Heading out West along with Johnson are fellow defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, forwards Dominik Kubalik & Yakov Trenin, prospect Michael Benning, and the Islanders’ 1st rounder in 2025 and 3rd rounder in 2026.
“It’s always tough to do these moves, but this is a different level,” General Manager Chris Hessel said as he sat at the podium to address the trade after the teams’ 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues.
Despite coming away with points in 11 of their past 12 games, the Islanders felt this to be necessary. It does fit in with their mantra of late of ‘ripping the bandaid’ off to address problem areas, especially after a sluggish first 40 games saw them go from Cup Finals contender to potential playoff bubble team.
The Isles ended Monday 5th worst in goals against, and 10th worst in goal differential.
Something had to give. And it doesn’t help that Islanders were not getting any younger.
Not that they are getting much younger with this trade, at least not for now. But the move does help the Isles profile on defense where they can presumably build a corps around Pionk, Aaron Ekblad & recent UFA import Damon Severson. Jeremy Lauzon also remains, and he has found a little bit of a stride since the Isles paired him up with Ekblad. All four are on the ‘right’ side of 30 and only Ekblad needs a new contract after this season.
Pionk, 28, is signed through next season and is having another outstanding campaign with 8 goals and 34 points. He will surely help the Isles make up for what they lose on offense from the back-end with Johnson’s departure.
“This was key for us,” Hessel said. “When we signed (Severson) it was with the idea that we needed him for several years, that we needed to find the heir apparent to Erik.”
“We didn’t expect we’d be able to land another one so soon too.”
Niederreiter, 31, with 14-20-34 in 51 games, is also signed through next season and gives the Isles a bit of a different dimension up front now. Tierney, a pending UFA with 9 goals and 27 points offers yet another option of someone who can handle the center spot - especially helpful if the Isles feel the need to make more changes. Recently, Kevin Hayes (also a pending UFA) had been used in a role on the wing and this seemed to help him, and the Isles, take off as they vaulted themselves back into the playoff conversation.
“We kind of got some raised eyebrows over the desire to find a center but our roster has been a bit of an enigma the past two seasons. And last season I didn’t think we needed one, we got Kevin and we were able to find ourselves in the Finals. It just felt that it needed to be stretched out this season.”
“I will say when we got Kevin, those conversations were interesting because Rich (Miller) told us after the deal that he always did OK on wing and I didn’t really take that in stride. But he’s pretty comfortable there so, we’ll see what coach decides works best for the team.”
Hessel was mum on if this means another trade is coming to move a center out. But the amount of guys on the roster now with the ability to play the position is intriguing to say the least.
Meanwhile, the Islanders can focus on integrating young forwards JJ Peterka and Matthew Knies next season while still deciding who to keep around amongst Hayes’s and Tierney’s of the world if they so choose.
Schenn, 34, seems to be an odd inclusion in this deal on the surface beyond needing the body. “But sometimes, you have to go under the hood on a player,” as Hessel so eloquently put it.
And the body of work stands up pretty well as far as number 6 defensemen go. Schenn, despite limitations, has done pretty well for Vegas the past two seasons logging a bevy of PK minutes (356 in total) while averaging 17 minutes a night and bringing a physical presence (328 hits). He should be able to mop up the shorthanded minutes EJ takes with him to Vegas.
When asked about Johnson’s departure, the tone changed a bit as Hessel’s voiced cracked and he took a long pause to set himself.
“Yeah, that’s where moves like this can suck.”
The Islanders traded a stalwart, a fan favorite who’s been with the organization since he was drafted by them in 2006 and who’s worn the ‘A’ on his sweater since the start of the 2014-15 season.
And if that’s not staggering enough, consider this: Johnson is literally and figuratively the last pillar - he is the last remaining pre-Hessel member of the organization, who joined in March 2008.
Johnson’s Islanders career ends with Hall of Fame and jersey retirement worthy credentials: 1,278 games played, 161-588 for 749 points, and a +147 rating.
“All the respect in the world for that guy. We’d be here all night if you ask me to wax poetic about him. And I won’t be able to without choking up a thousand times. He’ll get his day, that’s for d**n sure.”
With this kind of experience comes Father Time, and Johnson was not exempt. A slow start that perhaps showed some signs of aging was a concern, however of late his play picked up and noticeably so.
Gavrikov, 28, has 2 years remaining on his current deal & provided the Islanders with solid play since finally coming from Russia after being drafted by them in 2015.
Kubalik, also 28 and with 2 years remaining, has been a nice top-9 contributor since coming over from Pittsburgh at the 2023 trade deadline.
“Dom was a feisty, shifty player who we were very happy to finally have,” Hessel said alluding to the fact that they lost out on his services to Pittsburgh in UFA a few years back. “But you have to give to get and it’s not lost on teams how good he can be. There was a decent amount of interest.”
“We thank him for his time here, especially his strong playoffs last year. He really helped put us back on track.”
Trenin, 26, was acquired with Hayes from Nashville last season & after going through a rigorous training program this past summer was contributing nicely on the 4th line and penalty kill, providing 5 goals this season including a short handed goal.
The Islanders gained very valuable pieces for this & next season, but also lost some in the process. The key is going to be integrating the new guys in key spots.
How does the PK respond? The PP? This move is big, but does this facelift help the Isles in their own end or will the goaltending still be an issue?
And what about the locker room? You don’t trade an Erik Johnson without some fear of what that can do to a core who’s mostly been the same for several years.
But now the NsHL’s Islanders are truly all Hessel’s. 16 years later.
Fans will have a hard time getting past that factoid before they even get into the rest of the deal, and it is a doozy.
The Islanders announced Monday night they have acquired defensemen Neal Pionk and Luke Schenn, and forwards Nino Niederreiter and Chris Tierney from Vegas. Heading out West along with Johnson are fellow defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, forwards Dominik Kubalik & Yakov Trenin, prospect Michael Benning, and the Islanders’ 1st rounder in 2025 and 3rd rounder in 2026.
“It’s always tough to do these moves, but this is a different level,” General Manager Chris Hessel said as he sat at the podium to address the trade after the teams’ 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues.
Despite coming away with points in 11 of their past 12 games, the Islanders felt this to be necessary. It does fit in with their mantra of late of ‘ripping the bandaid’ off to address problem areas, especially after a sluggish first 40 games saw them go from Cup Finals contender to potential playoff bubble team.
The Isles ended Monday 5th worst in goals against, and 10th worst in goal differential.
Something had to give. And it doesn’t help that Islanders were not getting any younger.
Not that they are getting much younger with this trade, at least not for now. But the move does help the Isles profile on defense where they can presumably build a corps around Pionk, Aaron Ekblad & recent UFA import Damon Severson. Jeremy Lauzon also remains, and he has found a little bit of a stride since the Isles paired him up with Ekblad. All four are on the ‘right’ side of 30 and only Ekblad needs a new contract after this season.
Pionk, 28, is signed through next season and is having another outstanding campaign with 8 goals and 34 points. He will surely help the Isles make up for what they lose on offense from the back-end with Johnson’s departure.
“This was key for us,” Hessel said. “When we signed (Severson) it was with the idea that we needed him for several years, that we needed to find the heir apparent to Erik.”
“We didn’t expect we’d be able to land another one so soon too.”
Niederreiter, 31, with 14-20-34 in 51 games, is also signed through next season and gives the Isles a bit of a different dimension up front now. Tierney, a pending UFA with 9 goals and 27 points offers yet another option of someone who can handle the center spot - especially helpful if the Isles feel the need to make more changes. Recently, Kevin Hayes (also a pending UFA) had been used in a role on the wing and this seemed to help him, and the Isles, take off as they vaulted themselves back into the playoff conversation.
“We kind of got some raised eyebrows over the desire to find a center but our roster has been a bit of an enigma the past two seasons. And last season I didn’t think we needed one, we got Kevin and we were able to find ourselves in the Finals. It just felt that it needed to be stretched out this season.”
“I will say when we got Kevin, those conversations were interesting because Rich (Miller) told us after the deal that he always did OK on wing and I didn’t really take that in stride. But he’s pretty comfortable there so, we’ll see what coach decides works best for the team.”
Hessel was mum on if this means another trade is coming to move a center out. But the amount of guys on the roster now with the ability to play the position is intriguing to say the least.
Meanwhile, the Islanders can focus on integrating young forwards JJ Peterka and Matthew Knies next season while still deciding who to keep around amongst Hayes’s and Tierney’s of the world if they so choose.
Schenn, 34, seems to be an odd inclusion in this deal on the surface beyond needing the body. “But sometimes, you have to go under the hood on a player,” as Hessel so eloquently put it.
And the body of work stands up pretty well as far as number 6 defensemen go. Schenn, despite limitations, has done pretty well for Vegas the past two seasons logging a bevy of PK minutes (356 in total) while averaging 17 minutes a night and bringing a physical presence (328 hits). He should be able to mop up the shorthanded minutes EJ takes with him to Vegas.
When asked about Johnson’s departure, the tone changed a bit as Hessel’s voiced cracked and he took a long pause to set himself.
“Yeah, that’s where moves like this can suck.”
The Islanders traded a stalwart, a fan favorite who’s been with the organization since he was drafted by them in 2006 and who’s worn the ‘A’ on his sweater since the start of the 2014-15 season.
And if that’s not staggering enough, consider this: Johnson is literally and figuratively the last pillar - he is the last remaining pre-Hessel member of the organization, who joined in March 2008.
Johnson’s Islanders career ends with Hall of Fame and jersey retirement worthy credentials: 1,278 games played, 161-588 for 749 points, and a +147 rating.
“All the respect in the world for that guy. We’d be here all night if you ask me to wax poetic about him. And I won’t be able to without choking up a thousand times. He’ll get his day, that’s for d**n sure.”
With this kind of experience comes Father Time, and Johnson was not exempt. A slow start that perhaps showed some signs of aging was a concern, however of late his play picked up and noticeably so.
Gavrikov, 28, has 2 years remaining on his current deal & provided the Islanders with solid play since finally coming from Russia after being drafted by them in 2015.
Kubalik, also 28 and with 2 years remaining, has been a nice top-9 contributor since coming over from Pittsburgh at the 2023 trade deadline.
“Dom was a feisty, shifty player who we were very happy to finally have,” Hessel said alluding to the fact that they lost out on his services to Pittsburgh in UFA a few years back. “But you have to give to get and it’s not lost on teams how good he can be. There was a decent amount of interest.”
“We thank him for his time here, especially his strong playoffs last year. He really helped put us back on track.”
Trenin, 26, was acquired with Hayes from Nashville last season & after going through a rigorous training program this past summer was contributing nicely on the 4th line and penalty kill, providing 5 goals this season including a short handed goal.
The Islanders gained very valuable pieces for this & next season, but also lost some in the process. The key is going to be integrating the new guys in key spots.
How does the PK respond? The PP? This move is big, but does this facelift help the Isles in their own end or will the goaltending still be an issue?
And what about the locker room? You don’t trade an Erik Johnson without some fear of what that can do to a core who’s mostly been the same for several years.
But now the NsHL’s Islanders are truly all Hessel’s. 16 years later.