The first big trade - no pun intended - occurred on Friday afternoon as the New York Rangers shipped captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Urho Vaakanainen and a conditional fourth-round draft pick in 2025.
While the New York Rangers might be looking to shake things up further, their state rivals on Long Island might be considering the same in the coming months, especially with players on expiring contracts.
The New York Islanders are having a tough go in the 2024-25 season, entering Saturday last place in the Metropolitan Division with a 9-11-7 record in 27 games.
As the New York Islanders ponder what comes next, one name that's reportedly out there is 33-year-old pending unrestricted free agent Brock Nelson.
Nelson, who's coming off his third straight 30+ goal season, will be a hot commodity as we approach the March 7th trade deadline and among the teams that could be in the mix to land him is the Vancouver Canucks.
Jim Biringer of RG.org was told by a source recently that the Vancouver Canucks tried to acquire Brock Nelson last season, but ultimately that didn't happen, with Patrik Allvin bringing in Elias Lindholm.
The source said to Biringer that he would expect the Vancouver Canucks to try and take another shot at acquiring Brock Nelson before March 7th.
Nelson, a native of Warroad, Minnesota has appeared in all 27 of the Islanders' games this season where he's registered 17 points (ten goals, seven assists), two penalty minutes and is a minus-one. He's well on his way to a fourth-straight 30+ goal season.
While Patrik Allvin and the Canucks don't appear to be in a hurry to make a trade, it would be worth taking a look at Brock Nelson again this season as he would be a solid option as the third line center or even move him to the wing and put him in the top-six.
POLL | ||
Should Patrik Allvin try again to trade for Brock Nelson before the deadline in March? | ||
Yes | 118 | 44.7 % |
No | 146 | 55.3 % |
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