The New York Islanders raise eyebrows with a blockbuster trade for Brayden Schenn at the deadline, leaving fans questioning the team’s long-term vision. Is this win-now gamble worth the steep price? Gil Martin breaks down what Schenn brings to the bottom six, the departure of Jonathan Drouin, and why New York’s front office is banking on more grit and leadership to power their playoff push.
The episode dives into the surprising JG Pageau extension, its implications for Anders Lee’s future, and mounting concerns over aging contracts and cap space. Key topics include the Islanders’ lack of scoring upgrades, the prospect pipeline led by Kashawn Aitchison and Cole Eiserman, and whether these moves truly make the Islanders playoff contenders—or just delay an overdue roster overhaul. Can this veteran-heavy core find postseason magic, or did the Islanders miss an opportunity to get younger, faster, and more dynamic?
All this and more on today’s Locked On Islanders Podcast with Gil Martin.
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26 Comments
Wendell Clark , Trevor Linden, Kirk Muller, Ryan Smyth, John Tavares. We finally have a player in Schenn that waived their no trade clause to be an Islander and you are complaining. Are you sure you are a life long Isles fan?
Added another teams Captain for a 1st rounder that we got from Avs and a guy that waived his no trade clause to get here.
Our hard nose D that you speak of is Ramonov. He will be back soon.
Let Darsch do his thing sit back and enjoy
Gil, I disagree.. we gave up none of our picks, a goalie prospect who would never crack the lineup and Drouin who needed to go. We got better today and have Pageau in the mix for a couple of years and can still move on from Lee when the season is over.
-one talking head 'expert' gave this trade an a+ for blows. a d for isles. HAHAHA take that darche. maybe you should go back to tb if this is the plan. in fact do you even have a plan outside of adding old guys when isles are supposed to be looking to the future? and your 29 signing was the worst ufa signing of off-season and took a first to dump him with adding 40 year old schenn who can do the same shit as 44 who stayed to go with it. total F.
-its called the winning with smoke and mirrors effect when gm's are fooled into thinking their roster is better than it is and make goofy moves based on that when fact is it isn't as good as the record says. just lucky to have a goalie that saves their asses alot.
and how is having Schenn & Pageau who are similar a bad thing? Remember next year we will not have Lee … if Darche is thinking right.
Saw this earlier: so many basement crybaby GM’s…Just watch the games and enjoy and root for your NYI. We got a good player. See what his teammates say about him? See what happens…
He’s got 2 more years at 6.5 we dump a 4 mil salary and get instant solid everyday player not a once in awhile who hasn’t done anything consistently since first few weeks. Oh and where does wearing the C and playing in 300+ straight games for a team get calculated in there. Plus he won’t back down to anyone and shows up for every team mate, He has. a Cup and the experience to go with it and prolly some good advice for the young guys to go along with his leadership ability. No 50 goal scorer’s out here and we’re good on O and D. Not great at either. Sorokin has to play lights out or we’re looking up at the Rangers. You give up a 1st rounder. Name our last 1st rounder besides Matt last year. ? We didn’t even have any. So he got that pick in a trade. And when you compare him to not getting a sports car but Moms Mini van and follow that by saying ‘ no to disparage him in anyway’. What a ….
Pretty Laughable. .
Isles must hit on 3 out of 4 of the player group comprising Ritchie, Eklund, Eiserman and Nelson. Isles cannot afford a repeat of Josh Ho Seng, Michael Dal Colle and Kieffer Bellows
This trade combined with the Palat trade is awful. They make this team older and slower, Palat adds no skill and Schenn''s quickly eroding skills. They added 12.5M in cap to subtract 6.75, lost a 1st and 3rd round pick, all to be at marginally better this year which isn't actually going to make a difference this year. Just dumb
I think Darche deserves credit for helping the Blues franchise. It shows he cares and is willing to give and not expect anything in return. That is a life lesson we can all use. ❤❤❤
I like this trade. Time will tell.
Also the 1st is conditional top 10 protected. So if we miss the playoffs we will most likely keep the 1st this year which is deep.
Its soild.
The problem with all you online guys is you have been obsessed with draft picks and rebuilds all year instead of just enjoying the season….if you did you would have caught on that the Isles are tearing everything down to the studs….they are trying to win will infusing young talent.
I am trying to be positive here. They didn't give up Aitcheson or Ecklund or even Nelson. Getting rid of Drouin is an addition by subtraction, and the Blues wanted way too much for Kyrou/Thomas. If he adds toughness and defense I'm fine with it. I know some who will secretly hope the Isles lose more so they can be right. This fanbase is waaay to negative. Yes we should be getting younger but nobody could have predicted this season's success. Everybody overpaid.
Total disagree, we got rid of a bunch garbage. We got rid of Drouin, the guy was useless. That makes the trade a win for us no matter what.
is he really bottom six? I'd call it middle six?
wtf are we doing? building for the future, or trying to win now?
Just wanted to bring up that if you traded drioun as a Cap dump…it probably would have cost you a first round pick… And it was the Colorado first round pick which will be 30 31 32 … so it's almost a second round pick… so it actually cost us a 3rd round pick a a prospect… I don't think we did that bad… again… I guess it depends on how you look at it…we got a player that can pot…lets say 15 goals while winning faceoffs… can kill penalties..hits…plays hard… don't think we will see him on the power play…has a Stanley cup ring… Can mentor the kids coming up not afraid to stick up for his teammates … I don't see it as a bad trade… I don't believe we are winning the cup this year…he will make the kids better that are coming up.. just what I was thinking…
Love that we got pager for another 3 years…he makes players around him better
Lee probably wants to end his career as an islander… I don't see him playing next year… I could be wrong but I think they put him up in the office
I am confused as to the direction and philosophy of Darche. When Lou was the GM everyone in this site said we need to get young and faster and more skilled. Palat was a trade for a old and slow and declining forward who is positioninally weak with little production with a 6MM contract with term. Schenn is a older and declining player who is slow defensively awful and who will give you middle six production at best for 6.5MM contract with term. To pay a 1st round pick plus a 3rd pick plus a prospect. For me Darche over paid massively. Then he extends JPG who is a player that we know has been declining both offensively and defensively. On FO he is great but if you have been watching the games he is no longer that shut down specialist. He gets 3years and NTC. How are we not getting older and slower and less skilled. There certainly were moves to be made at trade deadline and off season. My point is for what we gave uo we should have gotten a better return. I just see the same Lou short term philosophy. Sometimes you as a organization need to be willing to take 1 or 2 steps back in order to build long term sustainable growth
The fuzz is a bit silly. Good move, needed a guy like Schenn.
This trade makes absolutely no sense he won’t affect winning or losing and anyway, and you got older and slower and give up a first round pick to do it, can the Islanders ownership ever hire anyone competent, it’s basically making a trade just because you think you have to do something
Drouin has been so bad we had to overpay to unload drouins contract
Lets see how he plays on a team that doesnt suck
Might as well have kept Brock Nelson if the plan was to get old and slow. Darsch sucks!!
The isles overpaid to lose in round 1. Than they will overpay for Lee. Have no cap space for a sniper and in 2 more years have to pay Schafer 11aav. More cup cake moves from a cup cake GM.