Lamoriello says Islanders won't be sellers at deadline
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New York Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello ruled out his team being a seller ahead of Friday's trade deadline.
The Islanders have won three straight games to close to within six points of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the final wild-card spot with three games in hand.
“They’ve said that they’re playing the way they’re capable of playing right now. We’ll have to continue to do that,” Lamoriello said Tuesday, per NHL.com. “As far as adding, if you can, you do. Are we thinking about subtracting? Absolutely not.”
It's been a turbulent season for the Islanders, who fired head coach Lane Lambert in January amid a 19-15-11 record to start the season. Patrick Roy has guided the team to a 7-5-3 record since taking over.
No member of the Islanders is currently listed on the TSN Trade Bait board. The team has four pending unrestricted free agents on their active roster in forwards Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin, and defencemen Mike Reilly and Sebastian Aho.
The Islanders are projected to have just under $2.5 million in deadline cap space, per CapFriendly.
“When it comes to the trade deadline, and this time here, if you can do something to make you better… it sounds like everybody says that; it’s real,” Lamoriello said. “It's funny the way it comes down to the last minute when you've had two months to make the same transactions if you can, but the parity in the league is dictating a lot of the decisions and last-minute thought processes to see where everybody's at.
New York could have a hole to fill on the blueline after placing defenceman Scott Mayfield on long-term injured reserve Tuesday. Mayfield has been sidelined since Feb. 22 and remains out indefinitely.
The Islanders will host the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday before playing their final game before the deadline on Thursday against the San Jose Sharks.