Today is the day, the day of craziness that NHL fans have come to know and love.
Today is Trade Deadline Day, somewhat of a National holiday in the US and Canada. Teams have until 3pm Eastern today to make final roster adjustments and in the past we have seen quite a bit of movement.
I wouldn’t expect too much from Islanders General Manager Garth Smow today, although he already made his first move yesterday by trading Andy Sutton to the Senators for a second round pick.
What other players are available? Here is a short list, which is my opinion of course:
Dwayne Roloson wasn’t a lock to be moved earlier in the season, as he had signed a two year deal in July. However, solid play through this point has really increased his value to teams looking for solid veteran goaltending here for playoff stretches.
Martin Biron was considered trade bait from the second he signed with the Islanders in July. Biron hasn’t played spectacular this year, and sat in the pressbox when DiPietro returned. He could be moved to a team looking for a quality backup, seeing he is an unrestricted free agent in July.
Curiously, Sean Bergenheim was a healthy scratch last night against Chicago. Word on the street is that there was some interest for Sean recently, who hasn’t been able to live up to his potential under Scott Gordon.
Jeff Tambellini is an odd man out, used sparingly by Gordon, Jiffy Jeff has been scratched for 3/4 of the games played so far and has taken it like a pro. Another underachiever coould spark interest from another club willing to give him a shot.
Brendan Witt has been playing in Bridgeport since passing through waivers. He’s got a year left on his contract and more than $3 million remaining. If the Islanders were to bring him back up on re-entry waivers, perhaps someone may be interested in the gritty defenseman.
Jon Sim has, at least to me, worn out his usefullness on the Islanders. The return on this role player won’t be much, but with Matt Martin waiting in the wings, he is taking up a roster spot. I could see a playoff bound team bringing him on for depth.
The Islanders don’t really have the assets to be real players this deadline. A majority of their players are more valuable to them than the rest of the league, which is a bit of a problem. one big plus for Garth Snow is that he has PLENTY of cap space to play with, so if a team needs to shed salary, he can pick up a player that may not fit somewhere else.
The day has only just begun, let’s see what happens.
Stay tuned throughout the day and I will update as often as I can!
