When the New York Islanders traded Brock Nelson to the Colorado Avalanche late on Thursday night, they got prized prospect Calum Ritchie and what will likely be a 2026 first-round pick.
Islanders Plan For New Top Prospect Calum Ritchie
The <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-islanders/latest-news/islanders-general-manager-lou-lamoriello-on-his-trade-deadline-decisions-future-plans">New York Islanders</a> have a new top prospect named Calum Ritchie, who they acquired from the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-islanders/latest-news/brock-nelsons-first-interview-as-a-member-of-the-avalanche">Colorado Avalanche</a> in their trade for <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-islanders/latest-news/brock-nelsons-first-interview-as-a-member-of-the-avalanche">Brock Nelson</a>.
But they also got another piece, a 27-year-old defenseman named Oliver Kylington.
The former second-round pick of the Calgary Flames in 2015, who had emerged a top-four defenseman at one point in time, struggled toward the end of his time in Calgary.
He missed the entire 2022-23 season and the first half of the 2023-24 season due to personal reasons.
After his two-year extension with the Flames expired, Kylington signed a one-year deal with the Avalanche, worth $1.05 million as a free agent this summer
However, his time in Colorado didn’t go as planned. He struggled during training camp. He then was injured, struggling when he returned to the lineup, then missed an additional two months due to an upper-body injury.
After dressing for 13 games in the Mile High City, with a goal and three assists, the Avalanche had seen enough, including him in the deal with the Islanders to get his cap hit off the books.
So, it makes sense why Colorado moved on from their pending unrestricted free agent defenseman.
But, so did the Islanders, almost 15 minutes after acquiring him.
Why were the Islanders so quick to flip him to the Anaheim Ducks?
At the time of the trade, the Islanders already had eight defenseman rostered: Alex Romanov, Tony DeAngelo, Noah Dobson, Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock, Scott Mayfield, Adam Boqvist and Scott Perunovich.
But having an excess of defensemen isn't always a positive.
However, it's a sure positive for the Islanders because all of the defensemen, especially the three in-season additions, have all played well.
There was little room for the Islanders to add another defenseman to that group, especially one not playing well.
The Islanders announced on Saturday morning in San Jose that defenseman Mike Reilly, who had been out since Nov. 1 because of a concussion which later led to the discovery of a heart defect that required surgery, had been activated off of long-term injured reserve.
They knew that was to happen before the deadline, giving them nine healthy, active forwards on the backend.
So, the Avalanche cap-dumped Kylington to the Islanders, who flipped him to Anaheim since they didn’t need the position or the cap hit on their books.
The Islanders did flip defenseman Dennis Cholowski, who was in Bridgeport, to the New Jersey Devils for forward Adam Beckman, so that didn’t affect their NHL roster.
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