Islanders' Brock Nelson playing it close to the vest at trade deadline
Brock Nelson of the Islanders celebrates his second-period goal against the Winnipeg Jets at UBS Arena on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
SAN JOSE, Calif. — All these backdoor machinations regarding Brock Nelson’s status leading into Friday’s 3 p.m. NHL trade deadline that have left the rest of the league speculating/guessing (specuguessing?) about what Islanders president/general manager Lou Lamoriello ultimately will do falls very much in line with Nelson’s personality.
In this case, it’s Nelson and his agent, Ben Hankinson, who are keeping their intentions so close to the vest when it usually is the uber-secretive Lamoriello who does that.
It’s become very apparent — as evidenced by the fact that Nelson still had not been traded on Thursday, when the Islanders had an off day on the West Coast — that Lamoriello’s first priority is to try to re-sign Nelson to a contract extension.
But Nelson, who will turn 34 at the start of next season, is completing a six-year, $36 million deal, and this almost certainly represents his last chance to cash in with a big payday.
He has engaged with the Islanders on contract extension talks and has spoken throughout the course of this season of his affinity for playing for the franchise, which drafted him 30th in 2010 and for which his 901 games rank fourth in team history.
Yet at no time has the native of Warroad, Minnesota, definitively stated that his first priority is to re-sign with the Islanders. And that’s just smart business for Nelson, who probably wants to see what his true market value is as a free agent. After all, he has never gotten to July 1 as an unrestricted free agent.
“We care about him,” captain and fellow Minnesotan Anders Lee said. “We care about each other in this room and have been through a lot together and have great friendships as a result of spending so much time together. We just all have each other’s backs and support one another and make sure that they’re feeling all right. These guys are professional and they’re men. They’ve handled this very well, from our side.”
Lee was including Nelson’s usual linemate and fellow pending UFA, Kyle Palmieri.
Lamoriello clearly is wrestling with the prudency of restocking the organization assets — with a seller’s market likely to yield a significant return for Nelson and/or Palmieri (and/or possibly other non-pending free agents) — against the Islanders still sitting on the fringe of the Eastern Conference wild-card chase.
It can’t be easy for Lamoriello with no absolute sense of whether re-signing Nelson even after Friday’s trade deadline is a strong possibility. Then again, Lamoriello has shown he is willing to let top-end players leave for no return, most notably Zach Parise exiting the Devils for the Wild via free agency in 2012, when Lamoriello was New Jersey’s boss. The Devils wound up reaching the Stanley Cup Final that season.
Playing it close to the vest fits how Nelson has acted throughout his NHL career. He is a ready and willing interview during the season, but his words always seem to come with a detached sense of analysis, as if he’s separating his emotions from his public persona.
He cracked, if only slightly, during a television interview after Tuesday night’s 3-2 win over the Jets that certainly played out like a farewell party for Nelson and Palmieri, usually his linemate. But once he got back in the postgame dressing room, there was no hint of soppy sentimentality. Nelson portrayed himself simply as a hockey player who played a hockey game.
And other hockey players will report that in the offseason, Nelson is gone, man. He retreats home to his family and Minnesota and there are walls between his in-season and offseason availability. He might maintain the best work-home life balance among the Islanders.
“There’s not enough I could say,” coach Patrick Roy said. “He’s been outstanding. He’s been a leader of this team. He came to [training] camp ready to play. I had a lot of conversations with him one-on-one. It’s fun to see someone performing the way he has. So much good things have happened to him this year, so good for him.”
Nelson has 20 goals and 23 assists while playing all 61 games this season, reaching the 20-goal plateau for the ninth time in 12 seasons.
Finally, where Nelson notches his next point will be known on Friday.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
