The Islanders, who must clear salary-cap space this offseason anyway, traded top-four defenseman and core member Nick Leddy to the Red Wings on Friday night rather than lose him for nothing in the upcoming NHL expansion draft to the Seattle Kraken.
In exchange, the Islanders acquired a second-round pick in next week’s NHL entry draft and bottom-six forward Richard Panik. The Red Wings, who have approximately $44 million in cap space, are retaining 50% of Panik’s $2.75 million cap charge while taking on all of Leddy’s $5.5 million.
That’s a net gain of $4.125 million in cap space for the Islanders, who are now approximately $8.