REPORT: New York Islanders have signed two key RFA's but are keeping it a secret?

PUBLICATION

Ryan
August 9, 2022 (7:46 PM)

SHARE THIS STORY

One of the stories of the offseason have been what is going to happen with the New York Islanders. After back-to-back Eastern Conference losses, the team has some struggles with COVID last year and missed the playoffs, which resulted in future Hall of Fame, Stanley Cup winning coach Barry Trotz getting fired.

The Islanders have been fairly quiet this offseason besides the firing of Trotz. They did make a big trade at the NHL entry draft, trading their 1st round pick to the Montreal Canadiens for Alexander Romanov.

Romanov has spent the last 2 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens where he became a fan favourite for his big hits and good defensive play.

The Islanders have three RFA's currently who all will play a huge part in the organization going forward. Those free agents are: Noah Dobson, Alexander Romanov and Keiffer Bellows.

With only 11 million in cap space currently, these 3 are definitely going to eat up the remainder of that.

According to NHL Insider James Nichols, there is already a deal in place for both Dobson and Romanov, but the team has not announced it.

Fwiw, I'm told the deals for Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov are done, just not filed yet. #isles

Fwiw, I'm told the deals for Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov are done, just not filed yet. #isles� James Nichols (@JamesNicholsNYI) August 9, 2022

We've seen in the past that Lou will do deals like this, like with Zach Parise last offseason. A deal was ''done'' for weeks, but it didn't get announced until almost the start of the season.

With only 11 million in cap space though and these 3 taking up most if not all, and possibly more than that, it will be interesting to see what happens with this roster. The Islanders have been rumoured to be the favourite to also land Nazem Kadri, so how do they plan to fit them all in?