Mitch formulates what his dream offseason would look like for the New York Islanders from signings, to trades, and drafted prospects. See how he build his 2025-26 New York Islanders.
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49 Comments
No shot Utah makes that trade.
Isaac Howard via trade. Hagens via trade and Schaefer with first overall.
lol these lines are insane too. Marner (who is not signing here for 12M) is playing with Barzal? We're rushing Hagens AND Schaefer to the NHL? We're playing Tony Deangelo and Adam Boqvist in our top 4? We're switching Pelech to his off side? We're relying on Hogberg to be a capable backup?
This is super rough/fantasy land stuff.
I would pass on Marner if he goes higher than $12 million and push hard on Ehlers. I also think you have to address the backup goalie situation. I think the Islanders should look at a guy like Anton Forsberg from Ottawa who will become a spare part and not get signed there. He will be a low cost, high reward type of option. Isaac Howard would be a nice addition but not for this year, likely still a year away or as a call up.
I like it all except Marner. I just don’t think he is worth that money. Somebody will wind up giving it to him I guess…
Dobson and 2nd rd pick to st Louis for jordan kyrou. I just don't see the value of hagens
Dude. I have to say holy cow, could you imagine!!!??? Theres a WHOLE lot to be excited about that situation!
Don’t want marner. Too much money and a massive playoff choke artist.
Forget Marner- We honestly should just dump this year and go for McKenna
Tsyplakov is not a second line player, Holmstrom is. Engvall should be bought out too. We have to get Howard as well, and I’d rather sign Boeser than Marner. You can still make the Dobson trade.
Lines would be:
Boeser, Bo, Barzal
Lee, Ritchie, Holmstrom
Howard, JG, Hagans
Gatcomb, Zeeker, Tsyplakov
Holmstrom making 5 mil. will shock me! I think 3mil. for 4 years sounds better.
Tsyplakov 2 mil for 2 years!
Romonov 4 mil for 4 years!
In a realistic scenario just draft Schaffer, sign Bennett and either ehlers or boeser, marner I would not pay more then $11.5 million a year on keep Dobson. Option B if Dobson is getting traded I’d rather it be for kyriou but if your trading him then they better go all out on ekblad. Both scenarios I’d trade Lee and pageau.Option B could look like this.
Barzal-horvat-kyriou
Duclair-Bennett-holmstrom
Tysplakov-Ritchie-palmeri
Maclean-Casey-gatcomb
Romanov-ekblad
Pelech-boqvist
George-pulock
Let Schaffer develop then trade pelech the following year.
Option A.
Barzal-horvat-ehlers/boeser
Same lines as option B.
Pelech-Dobson
Romanov-boqvist
George-pulock
How about trading Schaefer and Col. 1st to San Jose for their top defensive prospect for Dickinson and Misa
Mclean is not an NHL player, Duclair i would give away…Lee i do not want to see in an Islander uniform anymore…Trade Mayfield and J G… Palm also needs to go.. you lost me when you passed on Misa, ,got to be kidding me. Martone is better than Hagens. Hagens is a number 6 pick at best….
I've always been a huge Holmstrom fan, but 5 mill is too high.
Trade Pulock and Pelech. Trade Lee and Cizikas.
But but…this would mean they are trying to win next year, which is against the hope of half of the fanbase, including these guys. Best to lose forever like our heros the Sabres. Calder Cup!!!!!
Dobson OR Barzal in a trade to draft James Hagens, either of which I can see happening, would, to me, be equivalent to the Pat LaFontaine trade for Pierre Turgeon (principals in trade). Both teams fared well. That said, I’d rather trade Barzal than Dobson. I don’t know who is on Barzal’s no trade list, but I’m going to hope it’s not Utah or Seattle.
Mayfield is tradable even if you have to retain some money
Sorry but glad you are not the GM
Eat Duclair and Engvalls contracts, trade Pulock while he has value, keep Mayfield, dont sign Marner , the guy has skill but its not the type of play that wins playoff games, and dont sign Boeser , guy cant skate , elite shot but we have Eiserman that will be the same type of player, trade czikas, we need more young guys competing for the third and fourth lines, i would be interested in Ehlers and Rossi
Draft misa, trade Dobson for frondell or hagens.
Would certainly be nice to not have to deal with marner lighting us up for a change
You are the same 2 guys that when you were with Eyes On Isles that were willing to trade Sprokin, Dobson, & Barzal for Matt Duchene.😅 Ya want to trade Dobson (I am very open to it) but return isn't right & Hagens is small, soft, doesn't shoot, & plays on perimeter, I think Isles are set w/those types. Next you have a sissy roster again, so injuries will mount.
Marner – nooooo! Bring Bennett… Ehlers would be also great.
Insane.
First off, Marner ain’t coming here unless we offer him something stupid. Even then, probably not.
Aside from that, this whole mock comes off like we have no idea what we’re doing. Handing out a massive contract but then trading your 25 year scoring defensemen for futures.
I expect Darche will avoid big moves. I expect him to sell off some pieces for futures while building around the young pieces we already have in place. I think the mentality is going to be “if we compete next year, great. If not, we get one more top pick and draft our future 1C”
Get younger. Get faster. Rebuild the system and rebuild Bridgeport. Avoid getting locked into massive contracts. That should be the year one goal.
In a hypothetical scenario we sign Marner, I would trade Barzal over Dobson(to draft Hagens). Now in this scenario I would offer the Leafs Colorado's 2026 First to try get it done before the draft
a lot of people are commenting how this is unlikley but this is supposed to be unlikely its a dream scenario
Very good job Mitch. I like it. Made the team more fun, younger & building for the future. Especially like that you came around on D'Angelo & put your personal views aside.
Mitch, I don't like giving up on Dobson just yet. Can you imagine Dobson regaining his form and having 2 elite Offensive Dman on both sides (Left and Right). I don't like Hagens, if we are going to move Dobson, why don't we get McTavish from Ana. Or instead trade Dobson to trade and get Misa or Martone.
Also, I think Holmstrom only gets 3.5 for say around 4 years…
Don't want Boqvist as our everyday Defenseman. He should only be consider a #6 guy for us. Scheafer will NOT make the club next year.
Can Hagens just do what Fox did?
Dobson is an RFA. After a down year for him I dont think teams are gonna be willing to not only spend 8 or 9 million but also part with significant draft picks. If he gets an offer sheet above 4.6 million the offering team would need to compensate the Islanders a 1st and 3rd round draft picks. I dont think anybody goes in that heavy after a bad season so we just have to match the highest offer. If he's probably not getting an offer over 4.5 million I would want to hang on to him for at least another year or until the deadline. Why trade away an 8 or 9 million dollar talent that you can retain for 4.6 million. Then when he is a UFA next year were gonna have to pay him what he is worth
Also paying Marner 12 or 13 million is risky. If he continues to disappear in the playoffs we will never get to a cup final with our top talent going silent in the playoffs. That could cripple the franchise for nearly a decade. Sign a few one year deals for some serviceable guys for the year and next year hit the free agent market hard with almost 40 million to spend when the UFAs are Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Patrick Laine, Cale Makar, Kyle Connor, Jason Robertson, Tyler Zegras ….. many more attractive free agent targets next year, don't rush the retooling by overpaying for Marner. Those 2025 lines look good but I'd rather a 2026 with Jack Eichel and Tyler Zegras while concentrating the money this year on an offer sheet for Gabe Vilardi from Winnepeg….. Barzal, Eichel, Vilardi on the top line with Horvat, Zegras, Tsypalkov rounding out your top 6. Ritchie, eiserman, Czikias, Duclair, Maclean, Gatcomb, Fasching, etc. Making up your 3's and 4's plus we would still have money to retain Dobson and Romanov if structured correctly, also to bring along Schaefer, because we shed Anders and Pageau, and we gotta find a way to get Mayfield and Engvall off the payroll. That's an additional 18.5 million to play with plus the cap goes up another 8 or 9 million for 2026. We really could set ourselves up to make major waves in next years free agency market and then the rebuild/retool is done within one year
I do not see how Duclair can come back to the Islanders. He bailed on the team when they needed him most because the coach called him out for his poor play. He had a temper tantrum and did not finish the season. How does he go into the locker room and face the other players now?
Dobson for a 4th overall pick is laughable. Who’s running Utah. Milbury??
Marner isn’t coming to the island. Just not Happening.
. Draft Misa.
Your not buying out Mayfield you buyout Engvall
This is looney tunes
The trade with utah is exactly what I was thinking if can pull off. Can draft our #1 d and then another young offensive guy… And not paying a ton of money Dobson to help rebuild
Get rid of engval
Thank God it's a dream. Marner and Barzal wouldn't work on a line together. Plus he wouldn't sign here. Stick to franchise mode cuz this is hilarious
The core is certainly there for Darche to execute a really good offseason here. If he pulls this off, he wins GM of the year haha. I just think we remove the idea of Marner to the Isles and the Isles take a similar approach to your plan. Very well done
Noah Dobson com’on it’s that Hagen’s derangement syndrome! I shut it off right then lol 😂 But it’s all for fun! Noah is still going to be a star, he just has to get stronger and meaner. He ain’t a kid anymore put the big boy pants on.