The Islanders, Salary Retention & The Role Cap Space Can Play On Trade Deadline Day

The New York Islanders have traded Brock Nelson to the Colorado Avalanche in a deal involving top prospect Calum Ritchie and a future first-round pick.

The move involved Colorado acquiring Nelson’s $6 million salary with 50% retention, bringing the cap hit down to just $3 million.

Retention was required to facilitate the transaction, as the Avalanche would not be able to fit Nelson’s $6 million cap hit without making additional roster moves.

This was the first time in the Lou Lamoriello era the Islanders retained an outgoing player’s salary.

Retention was no problem for the Islanders, who still have two salary retention slots remaining and a projected $10.875 million in salary cap room, per Puckpedia. 

If the team continues selling pieces, this cap space will only increase.

With plenty of contenders tight to the salary cap ceiling, the Islanders can take advantage of their cap space to facilitate additional deals to acquire assets, or to take on bad contracts paired with assets.

Historically, retention has landed team’s mid-round draft choices or medium-tier prospects.

Recently, the New Jersey Devils acquired the signing rights of Shane LaChance – captain at Boston University and teammate of Islanders prospects Cole Eiserman and Kamil Bednarik – for retaining Trent Frederic’s salary.

If the Islanders hope to land a more significant asset, they could find a team trying to dump a player’s salary to clear cap space.

Historically, salary cap dumps have landed returns north of a first-round pick, while retention typically lands just a fourth or fifth round pick, depending on the salary and term.

It remains to be seen whether the Islanders plan to capitalize on their cap space to land another asset ahead of the 3 p.m. trade deadline, but the team does have the ability to do so.

Michael Ostrower contributed to this report. 

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