Islanders Surprising Buyers on Deadline Day

The New York Islanders who were tipped to repeat for another lottery pick in the beginning of the season, is surprising the league with a record above .500 and fighting for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. On deadline day, the Islanders added  depth veteran options Jordie Benn and Kevin Connauton, to go along with the veterans added in free agency to ice an actual NHL team.

"We're pretty happy with our work at the deadline, and i think these additions will provide a boost for the team down the stretch, not in terms of just on-ice performance, but dressing room cohesion as well. We're going to battle for the last playoff spot when everybody expected us to finish in the basement again, and these additions are a 'reward' if you will to the guys already here. Well done so far, you've earned some reinforcements" - commented GM Tony Chiu, now officially 1 year in charge.

"We needed warm bodies on the backend, and the fact that Jordie and K-Conn can actually play hockey is a big bonus to our blueline. They can eat up some more minutes and help us get to the playoffs. We still have a 5 year plan, and we're sticking to it. But things are going better than they expected, so now it might be a 3 year or 4 year plan. I hope the fans can recognize while we did give up several draft picks, we did not mortgage too much of the future for short-term gain. The plan has been slightly adjusted, it has not been torn up."

It's expected new additions Benn and K-Conn will play immediately on the team's bottom pairing, and rumours are another veteran forward is incoming. Analysts and media have analyzed the deadline trades as "low-risk, moderate reward" as the draft picks outgoing were not in the first 3 rounds, and althought none of the players acquired will be here beyond this season, a possible playoff appearance will be beneficial to the development of the team's young players, including franchise forward Nathan MacKinnon and young defenseman Nikita Zadarov