The Islanders have a deal in place to send their first-round pick to Vegas to steer the expansion franchise toward selecting a designated player off the Isles’ unprotected list, two NHL sources confirmed to Newsday on Monday.
TSN first reported the existence of the deal.
The player designated for selection is still unknown, though it likely would be an Islander with a decent-sized cap hit to help the team clear space. Goaltender Jaroslav Halak ($4.5 million), forward Nikolay Kulemin ($4.187 million) and defenseman Thomas Hickey ($2.2 million) are three of the larger salaries among the team’s unprotected players.