The Islanders traded Michael Grabner to the
Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Taylor Beck, Matthew Finn, Christopher
Gibson, Tom Nilsson & Carter Verhaeghe.
Grabner was a healthy scratch in 13 of the
Islanders final 18 games last season. After battling the effects from several
nagging injuries that often hampered his break out speed, his
production seemed to be in a steady decline, which lowered him on the Isles depth chart.
The additions of Finn and Verhaeghe were speculated
as the lynch pin of the deal for New York.
Beck, 24, F played in 62 NHL games last
season with the Nashville Predators, scoring 8 & 8 for 16 pts. Beck was selected (70th overall) in the 2009
NHL Entry Draft by the Preds.
Finn, 21, D scored 1 & 2 for 3 pts in 28
games as a member of the Marlies in the AHL.
Finn was the Leafs 35th pick in the 2012 NHL Draft and led the OHL
Guelph Storm to a title in 2013-14 with a +57 rating.
Gibson, 22 is a depth goaltender who had a
24-17-3 record with a 2.42gaa and a .921Sv% for the AHL Marlies last season. Gibson was the 49th overall pick in the 2011
NHL Draft.
Nilsson, 22, D had 1 & 5 for 6 pts in 44
games in the AHL with the Marlies.
Nilsson was Toronto’s 100th overall selection in the 2011 Draft.
Verhaeghe, 20, F was the Maple Leafs 82nd
overall selection in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.
He scored 33 & 49 pts in 68 games as Captain for the Niagra IceDogs
of the OHL and has a gold medal in the 2013 U18 WC’s.
Of the players acquired, Staple mentions that
none projected to make roster right away and it seems that they may have been
contracts that Toronto wanted to off load to make room for other prospects in
their system. While the moves do add
even more depth to the Isles minor league system, it also adds almost $8M in
cap space for New York after losing MG $3M cap hit for this season.
Is there another move to be made?
In other news, the Isles signed Steve Bernier
to one-year, $750,000 deal. Bernier was
brought into camp on a PTO, but looks like he may have been in the plan all
along. He was security if Nelson wasn’t signed
in the final hours last night and now seems to have secured a roster spot with
Grabner’s departure.
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