New York Islanders pending restricted free agent defenseman Noah Dobson fell in the quarterfinal round of the 2025 IIHF World Championship with Team Canada.
Canada’s stunning 2-1 loss to Team Denmark came despite entering the matchup with six wins and an overtime loss in the preliminary round, finishing first in Group A.
Dobson finished the tournament with four points (one goal, three assists) in eight games.
Fellow Islander Bo Horvat began the tournament alongside Dobson but left early after suffering a lower-body injury. It appears to be a minor injury.
Horvat had eight points (four goals, four assists) in six games.
Islanders Bo Horvat To Miss Remainder Of World Championships For Team Canada
<a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-islanders" target="_blank">New York Islanders</a> forward Bo Horvat will miss the remainder of the 2025 World Championship for Team Canada with a lower body injury.
Denmark will now face Switzerland, while the United States will take on Sweden in the other semifinal matchup.
Up next for Dobson is contract negotiations, except the Islanders don’t have a president or general manager in place. So, between now and the Islanders’ executive hirings, Dobson will work with his agent on their game plan.
The pending restricted free agent just concluded a three-year deal worth $4 million annually.
Dobson, 25, is expected to get a long-term deal worth $8-$9 million annually. The AAV could be even higher if Dobson elects to take a shorter-term deal.
On Feb. 13, Dobson changed his representation from Andrew Maloney of Maloney & Thompson Sports Management to Wasserman.
Olivier Fortier is the lead agent, and Judd Moldaver, who represents Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews, also has a role in Dobson's representation.
Noah Dobson & Islanders: Agent Switch Signals Key Contract Talks Ahead
Noah Dobson has changed agents.
Following the 2020-21 season, his second year in the NHL, Dobson was inked to a bridge deal rather than a long-term deal.
When I asked Lamoriello at the following press conference why the team elected to go the bridge route over a long-term commitment, he said they needed to see more from the young defenseman.
They saw more in 2023-24 when Dobson recorded 70 points (10 goals, 60 assists), but the Prince Edward Island native struggled to mimic that in 2024-25, with just 39 points (10 goals, 29 assists) in 71 games.
Dobson has three options: shorter-term deals with a higher AAV, the security of a longer-term deal at market value, or potentially signing an offer sheet if one comes his way this summer.
The expectation is that Dobson will remain with the Islanders on a long-term deal. Offensive defensemen don’t go on trees, and the Islanders’ blue-line pipeline – we’ll see if they add Matthew Schaefer, a left-side defenseman, with the No. 1 pick at the 2025 NHL Draft – is a bit thin.
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Michael Ostrower contributed to this story.