The New York Islanders have been active early in the offseason, notably with a recent draft picks trade. They moved back two spots in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft and acquired the Chicago Blackhawks’ extra pick in the second round in the process. While a big splash appears off the table, a minor move can still happen.
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One of the moves general manager (GM) Lou Lamoriello should consider is acquiring Jesperi Kotkaniemi. His tenure has been a disaster with the Carolina Hurricanes, as he’s regressed into a middle-six forward with a long-term contract attached to him that doesn’t help his cause. Once a promising prospect, he’s now a non-factor on a Hurricanes team where everyone else seems to play above their expectations.
That doesn’t mean he can’t find success elsewhere. Kotkaniemi can see his career reinvigorated in a new setting, making him an intriguing player to add. The Islanders have a handful of obstacles in the way of making a deal work, and it’s a risky move but one that could prove worthwhile. Before looking at what he can bring to the Islanders, it’s important to examine the avenues to acquire him.
Hurricanes Buy Kotkaniemi Out
The easiest path for the Islanders to add Kotkaniemi is if his contract is bought out and he’s available for any team to sign. It’s also the best-case scenario for the Islanders since they won’t have to pick up his contract, which has a $4.8 million average annual value with five more seasons left on it.
A buyout is on the table and can reasonably happen, especially if the Hurricanes want to cut their losses early. However, they will want to avoid it by any means necessary. The Hurricanes are a team historically known for avoiding buyouts, and even with a new front office, one where Eric Tulsky is the GM, they’ll want to either trade Kotkaniemi or keep him on the roster and hope he still rebounds on the team.
Islanders Make a Reasonable Trade to Add Kotkaniemi
It’s not the cap hit but the term that makes any deal difficult. The Islanders, or any team that adds Kotkaniemi, are betting on his rebound and hoping they aren’t stuck watching his career plateau for another five seasons. With Kotkaniemi’s value at a low point, a few things will need to be a part of any deal for the Hurricanes to make it work.
The Islanders can take on the entire contract and possibly ask for a late-round draft selection in the process. This allows the Hurricanes to get the Kotkaniemi contract off their books at a reasonable cost. The other option is for the Hurricanes to eat some of his remaining contract, with the Islanders moving a draft selection the other way. This option looks reasonable, considering that Lamoriello acquired an extra draft selection in the second round. While they still have to deal with the long-term contract, the minimal cap hit would make it easy to work with.
A One-for-One Trade
This seems like the type of trade Lamoriello would make, a “hockey trade,” as he often calls it. Like the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade, when the Columbus Blue Jackets sent him to the Winnipeg Jets for Patrik Laine, the Hurricanes and Islanders can move players who aren’t fit on their rosters and hope they succeed elsewhere. The question is who the Islanders would move.
One bad contract that would fit this scenario is that of Scott Mayfield, a good player off to a disastrous start on his seven-year contract. The Hurricanes wouldn’t make that move for multiple reasons. Mayfield isn’t the type of two-way player they want; he’s a veteran on the decline, and their defense is a strength, and they don’t need another skater to help out the unit when, in all likelihood, he’d hurt it.
The more realistic options are Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Oliver Wahlstrom. Wahlstrom, in particular, is a young skater who mirrors Kotkaniemi. Once promising, he’s struggled to find a role in the lineup and needs to find a new setting to thrive. On the Hurricanes, he can find that scoring touch the Islanders hoped they’d get when they drafted him in the first round in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.
The Argument for the Hurricanes to Move Kotkaniemi
The most likely outcome this offseason is that the Hurricanes keep Kotkaniemi, at least for one more season. It’s hard to give up on a former top-five pick who, at 23, still has a high upside. The problem is that the Hurricanes have a lot on their plate this offseason, and they must address the Kotkaniemi situation immediately, considering that it is now time for them to win a Cup.
If the Hurricanes want to sign Seth Jarvis, their young rising star who is worthy of a big payday, plus re-sign pending free agent Jake Guentzel and possibly give Jaccob Slavin a long-term contract, they’ll have to move a lot of money off their books. Even so, it’s a tall task to retain all three skaters, but a team looking to push to win the Cup might pull out all the stops to do so.
Moving on from Kotkaniemi is a start. It gives them extra cap flexibility and gets the ball rolling on the other big roster decisions that await. If they acknowledge that the deal they gave him in the 2021 offseason backfired and they cut their losses, they’ll be better off in the long run.
What Kotkaniemi Would Add to the Islanders
Despite having six seasons under his belt, Kotkaniemi is an unknown. His upside, however, makes him a player worth pursuing. He has the speed and ability to win in space, which can make him a great player, but a lot must be in place for him to succeed. Kotkaniemi must play alongside other fast skaters and a versatile center, something the Islanders have in Bo Horvat and Brock Nelson but lack in their bottom six.
The Islanders making a move for Kotkanieni would give them a young forward who can be a staple of the offense for years to come. He might not be a building block like Mathew Barzal, but he’d be a reliable part of the forward unit and allow the Islanders to look younger and faster than they currently do. The problem is it backfires, and the team is stuck with another back contract on their books, and they already have more than enough of those.
Why Lamoriello Should Take the Risk
The Islanders, in recent seasons, have become stagnant. They are a middling team with low upside, and it’s left them clawing their way into the playoffs only to be outmatched by contenders like the Hurricanes. Adding Kotkaniemi, at the very least, proves that Lamoriello is willing to take a swing or two. Sure, it can backfire, but the possibility of setting the Islanders up to be one of the better teams in the conference makes it a risk worth taking.
Kotkaniemi isn’t the best player the Islanders can pursue this offseason, and a move to acquire him might not be the best option. Yet it could upgrade the roster and end up being a savvy deal from Lamoriello, who has, at times, made the move least expected.