Good Morning, Islanders Country.
It was 1:23 pm when CapFriendly posted that the New York Islanders and Anaheim Ducks were the only two teams not to announce a signing. Expectations were low for the cap-stricken Isles entering the first day of free agency, and it didn’t help that there was a frenzy of activity around the league and Metro.
Then, things changed for the better.
The team announced that defenseman Mike Reilly was returning and moments later that they had signed speedy forward Anthony Duclair after reported rumblings of mutual interest minutes earlier.
It was a tidy piece of business for a front office.
They weren’t blockbuster moves. They weren’t headline-grabbing moves. You won’t even find either signing on the NHL.com list of Top Stories, but they were intelligent, low-risk, high-reward signings and two of the shrewdest on a day when NHL GMs were handing out term and dollars at a rapid clip.
Feeling Wanted
After bouncing around the NHL the last few seasons, Anthony Duclair signed a four-year, $14M (3.5M AAV) deal, bringing top-six speed and scoring, which should amplify the production of a forward group led by Mathew Barzal, Brock Nelson, and Bo Horvat. Over the last four seasons, Duclair has an 82-game average of 27 goals per season and now brings more offensive depth to a team that boasted four 30-goal scorers the previous year. Not too shabby.
He also gets reunited with his junior coach, Patrick Roy, who called him earlier in the day to say he wanted him on Long Island. From there, Lamoriello did his thing and got great value and reasonable term for a player still in his prime.
Some may even call it a Lou ‘masterclass.”
“When you have a coach that wants you, that's all you want," said Duclair on Monday. Roy is familiar with Duclair from when he played for the Hall-of-Famer with the Quebec Remparts. Talking to the media, he said the presence of Roy behind the bench played a "huge" factor in his decision to sign with the Islanders. He tallied 116 points (51G, 65A) in 118 games under Roy from 2011-13 in juniors.
“He’s a real passionate guy, a real love for the game. He’s going to demand a lot out of you, but at the same time is extremely fair…I don’t think it’s going to be any different from juniors til now.”
Duclair has struggled in the post-season (5 goals in 39 games), but we’ll worry about that when we get there. The Islanders weren’t in a position financially to sign a star UFA to a mega deal (not that would happen anyway). Still, for a player who scored 31 goals not too long ago, a move like this lengthens the forward group, bolsters the power-play, and adds more lineup flexibility.
There will be those who say this move doesn’t move the needle and that the Islanders are in a similar position to where they started the day, but a smart move is a smart move. Duclair has the potential to score 25 goals and have a 50-point season, making the Isles a faster, more dangerous offensive team.
Reilly Returns
As for Reilly, the veteran stabilized the team’s defense and their most vulnerable part of last season. After scoring a career-high six goals and adding a missing offensive dynamic to the blue line, it was thought that the soon-to-be 31-year-old could earn a multi-year contract.
Despite his strong showing on Long Island, the market didn’t materialize for Reilly, and Lamoriello brought him back on just a one-year deal at $1.25M AAV.
“I think I fit, definitely, for sure,” said Reilly on the clean-out day after the Isles were eliminated in the first round. "I'm hoping Lou and my agent can talk at some point here, and hopefully, it works out.”
It worked out.
Reilly is a reliable third-pair defenseman who can jump into the play and quarterback a second-power play unit. The signing rounds out the Isles’ top six, with Samuel Bolduc currently the seventh defenseman on the depth chart.
📰 NEWS: The Islanders’ first move of the day was announcing that former New Jersey Devils defenseman Tommy Albelin is their new assistant coach. After spending eight seasons with Team Switzerland, Albelin joins Patrick Roy’s staff, coaching seven World Championship and three Olympic squads.
The hiring of Albelin comes days after the GM Lou Lamoriello announced at the draft that assistant coach Doug Houda would not be returning.
Houda was in charge of the team’s penalty kill, which struggled mightily throughout the season. “Great human being, tremendous for us,” said Lamoriello. “I think this is something that we’re just going to have to go forward with a different type of defense coach.” Albelin played 952 NHL games with the Quebec Nordiques, New Jersey, and the Calgary Flames from 1987-88 to 2005-06. Lamoriello’s relationship played a part in the hiring, as Abelin won Stanley Cups in 1995 and 2003 with Lamoriello’s led Devils teams.
📚 SOUND SMART: According to the team site, newly signed Anthony Duclair and JG Pageau logged 216:34 TOI at five-on-five in 79 games and teamed up for seven goals. Duclair and Pageau were staple penalty killers for Ottawa. The two logged 26:36 shorthanded, on the ice for just two goals in that span. Duclair notably recorded the primary assist on Pageau’s shorty in 2020.
🎥 ISLES REWIND: On Oct. 16, 2021, Anthony Duclair scored a breakaway goal to give the Florida Panthers a 3-0 lead to a 5-1 win over the New York Islanders in Sunrise, FL. “Once they got the fourth goal, we stopped playing," Islanders head coach Barry Trotz said. “They smelled blood, and they kept coming at us."
🔗 Anthony Duclair’s bond with Patrick Roy made it ‘hard to say no’ to Islanders by Ethan Sears, NY Post “Lou Lamoriello has always painted transactions as the art of the possible. And with the Islanders having limited flexibility on the first day of free agency, it was coach Patrick Roy who bent what was possible into signing winger Anthony Duclair on a team-friendly deal while retaining Mike Reilly on the blue line, with the potential for further moves down the line.”
🔗 The Islanders make a smart move with Anthony Duclair. Do they still need more? by Arthur Staple, The Athletic “Provided Lamoriello doesn’t want to move Lee or Pageau, the rest of the change will have to come from within. This group has gone to the “they’ve all counted us out” well before, but that was a few years ago when everyone was a bit younger and fresher.”
And we leave you with this…Patrick Roy coaching Anthony Duclair in juniors.
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