Former Leaf could really cash in this summer; asking price on UFA market revealed
The New York Islanders are a team with a lot of veterans, interesting centre depth, but not a lot of wiggle room within their salary cap. Mathew Barzal paces their offense whenever healthy and then they have good options in recently acquired Bo Horvat, captain Anders Lee, and All-Star Brock Nelson. After that, they lack some depth but have recently come to be enamoured with former Toronto Maple Leafs forward, Pierre Engvall.
The salary cap is expected to increase over the next few seasons after a stagnant run of a couple COVID-affected years. Even then, Barzal has a cap hit of $9.15 million until the end of 2030-31, Horvat carries a cap hit of $8.5 million for the same length of time, Lee at $7 million, Nelson at $6 million, and then veterans in Josh Bailey, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, and Kyle Palmieri each at $5 million for a variety of years.
Engvall is on the books for $2.25 million this season. He had a rough start with the Islanders where he was benched and even demoted in the lineup but has really picked things up as of late. He has 5 goals and 8 points in 14 games compared to Horvat who has 6 goals and 11 points in 26 games.
Market value is always tough to gauge because it all depends on how desperate some teams are when it comes to availability of players but more importantly positions. Centres always cost a pretty penny and if Engvall were to hit the open market, many believe he could command almost double what he's currently making at $4 million. As crazy as some might find that to be, the Islanders might find themselves in a position where they pull the trigger.
They would need to get creative and find ways to alleviate cap space elsewhere - Josh Bailey comes to mind - but for a player that has only cracked the 35 point plateau once in his career, the Islanders will be banking on a production spike in Long Island. In his 4 years with Toronto he averaged 12:42 TOI compared to his short stint with the Islanders where he's gotten 15:10. He has also found himself back in the top-6 and on the wing with Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri.
He's a very capable bottom-6 player, can kill penalties, and is a big body with above average skating for a guy his size. Market value tends to give these kinds of players a boost and if a bidding war of any kind ensues or if the Islanders catch wind that other teams are interested, expect a multi-year deal to be hammered down before free agency opens up.
For a team holding onto a playoff spot, they have no one above 70 points, 1 player currently in the 60s, 1 player in the 50s, 2 players in the 40s, and 3 players in the 30s. In terms of goals, they have 7 players in double figures, 3 players above 20 goals, and a few more on the outside looking.
Injuries have played their hand with Barzal, Palmieri, and Bailey but they need more offensive output and if Engvall keeps producing the way he has over the course of the last month, the Islanders might do the unthinkable and give him a long term deal. First things first, they'd have to find suitors for some of their higher priced veterans.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 7 | 113 ANSWERS Former Leaf could really cash in this summer; asking price on UFA market revealed Will Engvall's next contract surpass the $4M AAV plateau? | ||
| Yes | 24 | 21.2 % |
| No | 89 | 78.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
