Insider Outlines Reasons Islanders Missed out on Nazem Kadri

The Calgary Flames recently signed top free agent Nazem Kadri, after the forward spent more than a month as an unsigned free agent. While Kadri wasn't THE top free agent, he was definitely one of the top players on the market this summer. Before signing in Calgary, Kadri was expected by many 'in the know' to sign with the New York Islanders. So what happened there and why did Kadri take so long to be signed?

Let's start with the latter half of that question.

It was widely suspected that Kadri would command a king's ransom this summer, fresh off an 87-point season in which he scored at a 100-point pace. His competitiveness is his calling card, of which every NHL GM wants more, and his two-way play makes him extremely valuable. But the $9M per year some speculated he might receive never came, hence making him the last 'top' free agent to ink a deal.

The fact is, despite his great season in '21-22, he is a perennial 55-65 point scorer with strong two-way numbers. Which is a top-tier second-line center but a mid-range first-line center. Therefore, he couldn't seriously command top-line money. Good thing for Calgary, they already have a top-line center in Elias Lindholm who makes under $5M per year, so they could afford to offer Kadri a small premium.

As for the Islanders, well, I will let Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman cover that topic, explaining why Lou Lamoriello failed to land Kadri and ultimately had a quiet offseason:

While Calgary was able to trade Sean Monahan to clear cap space, the Islanders ran into trouble in their attempts. Rumors involving Josh Bailey and Anthony Beauvillier have flown around, and frankly it is surprising the Islanders were unable to move find a trade for either of them. Both solid top-six forwards who provide acceptable secondary scoring for reasonable enough cap-hits. Failing to move salary off his books, Lamoriello now goes into 2022-23 with a nearly identical team as last season's group, minus one Barry Trotz and plus one Alexander Romanov.

Friedman asserts his belief that the Islanders have contracts worked out and signed with defensemen Romanov and Noah Dobson. He believes Romanov's cap-hit will be around $3M, and Dobson's number will be a bit bigger. Dobson looked incredible in 2021-22, generating the feeling that he could be a big piece for the Islanders going forward.

The bottomline is, it is extremely difficult to build a competitive NHL team and manage a salary cap at the same time. The Isles were unable to mitigate their salary cap problems with viable solutions and are now staring at a roster much similar to one who failed to make the playoffs and don't have much in the way of future assets. 2022-23 could go either way for the Islanders, and Lamoriello's job could hang in the balance.

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