How long will it take until the New York Islanders can become a destination for players? The Islanders keep missing out on big-name free agents or even big-name players available via trade because players don’t want to come here.
The Islanders even lost a free agent that they had for the last nine years because another market was more desirable.
During free agency the Islanders lost John Tavares to the Maple Leafs, Ryan O’Reilly was traded to the St. Louis Blues, Artemi Panarin has been rumored to be not entirely happy in Columbus, and the biggest fish of them all, Erik Karlsson is still seemingly available.