Islanders Make Major Trade, Acquires Dougie Hamilton

Last week, the Islanders addressed a major weakness on their blueline, acquiring defenseman Dougie Hamilton in a 6 player trade with cross town "rivals" New York Rangers. In a trade that showed the contrasting fortunes and management styles of the New York neighbours, this was the first major transaction in around 6 months for the Islanders, while the Rangers make a major transaction about once every six hours.

GM Tony Chiu addressed the media after the trade was announced.

"We'd like to thank the services of Ryan Murray, Paul Byron, and Vinni Letteri. They were class individuals that will be missed within the organization. We wish them nothing but the best as our new neighbours, although I expect they probably won't be there for long."

"We're very happy to have Dougie on this team, he should really help us on the powerplay as well as providing some mobility and skill on the backend."

Analysts felt while the Islanders gave up a significant package to acquire Hamilton, GM Tony Chiu addressed the biggest need on the Islander team, which was another puck-moving defenseman to take the pressure off the beleaguered John Klingberg, who's been overrelied upon to generate offense from the backend. Analysts have also pointed out that Dougie Hamilton carries a reasonable cap hit at 4 mil with some term left, which gives the team some flexibility going forward. Meanwhile, the loss of Paul Byron may be felt in the short term as he was a big part of the Islanders PK and middle 6, but his impending UFA status meant he was not likely to return as an Islander next season.