The New York Islanders dealt their first-round pick to the Montreal Canadiens for Alexander Romanov, a 22-year-old, left-shooting defenseman from Moscow, Russia. The Islanders also received a fourth-round pick in the exchange; the Canadiens flipped the 13th-overall to Chicago in a package for Kirby Dach.
Romanov was a 2018 second-round pick (38th overall) by the Canadiens and just completed his second season in the NHL. Before joining the Canadiens, he played for CSKA in the KHL, where he was teammates with Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin.
This is clearly the Islanders’ attempt to fill the hole on the left side crated by the Nick Leddy and Devon Toews cap trades the previous two summers.