Fansided

Maple Leafs continue to fleece Islanders with NSFW trade

By David Rouben

DALLAS, TX - JUNE 22: Lou Lamoriello of the New York Islanders attends the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 22, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - JUNE 22: Lou Lamoriello of the New York Islanders attends the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 22, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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The New York Islanders hired Lou Lamoriello from the Toronto Maple Leafs, and their response has been to poach New York’s best players.

An offseason that began with so much hope for the New York Islanders has slowly evaporated into pain and anguish. A lot of that has had to do with one team — the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Not only did the Maple Leafs get the biggest fish in free agency by signing John Tavares, but they gave New York a general manager in Lou Lamoriello who loves to play favorites and prefers vets over promising young talent. Seeing Toronto’s Kyle Dubas continually fleece him has been next-level petty.

When the Islanders’ response to losing John Tavares was to sign Leo Komarov, a lot of people made the highly original “the trade is one-for-one” joke. But this time, they actually did do a one-for-one trade, and while it’s not nearly as lopsided, the Islanders still came out on the losing end.

As announced by the teams, another Lamoriello favorite in Matt Martin is headed back to Long Island, in exchange for one of their goalie prospects:

The Islanders’ goalie situation is already a wasteland as things stand — the last thing they should be doing is gutting their prospect pool at that position. Even if Eamon McAdam doesn’t pan out for the Leafs, that’s still bad asset management.

Islanders fans will be happy that they got Matt Martin, since it’s a homecoming and he was briefly linked to the New York Rangers, but that happiness will subside once they realize that they got Matt Martin. There was a subsection of Leafs fans that loved him, and by all accounts, he’s great in the locker room. But there’s a reason why he was stapled to the fourth line, and became a healthy scratch once they called up Kasperi Kapanen. Unless the Islanders are trying to assemble a team of fourth lines, this deal makes little sense.

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To sum up, here’s the difference in the Leafs and Islanders’ respective offseasons:

There may be more moves to come, but perhaps Lamoriello should stop phoning his old team if he wants to get the Islanders back on track.

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