Islanders have no Need to Panic Ahead of NHL’s Trade Deadline

Islanders GM Garth Snow (Getty Images)

With the trade deadline looming on Monday, March 2, the Islanders have many reasons to try to bolster its roster.

A season-long struggle on penalty kill, lack of that topline scorer to pair with John Tavares, have Islander fans wondering if GM Garth Snow will pull the trigger on a trade before time is up on Monday afternoon.

Being perched atop the NHL’s Metropolitan position is certainly a position the Islanders have earned this season, but it is one in which the team is unfamiliar as a struggling franchise for the past decade save for a few playoff appearances.

In fact, Islander fans are so unfamiliar with this position that there is a cry to unload Johnny Boychuck should he indicate that he wants to test free agency this summer.

However, what these fans aren’t grasping is the concept that the Islanders are contenders now.  They need to look at Boychuck as a rental at this point.  If someone told me that the Islanders were going to trade for Johnny Boychuck as a 3-month rental for the playoff push I’d say “great move”.  Well, Snow has essentially done that already – and he did it in October for a season-long rental.

The second massive trade the Islanders have already made is the acquisition of a physical, scoring winger who has chemistry with John Tavares.  His name is Kyle Okposo and he should be returning to the lineup this month after undergoing eye surgery on February 3^rd.

As the saying goes, sometimes the best trades are the ones you don’t make and in the case of the Islanders, it is a case of waiting for Okposo and not trading Boychuck who Snow skillfully acquired this past fall.