Brock Nelson is gone. Yet for the New York Islanders, the ultimate goal — returning to the playoffs — remains the same.
The Islanders will play their first game without Nelson on the active roster in more than a decade Saturday night when they open a three-game California road trip by opposing the San Jose Sharks.
The Islanders have been off since Tuesday, when Nelson closed out his stint with the club by collecting a goal and an assist in a 3-2 win over the visiting Winnipeg Jets. The Sharks concluded a 2-3-1 road trip on Thursday when they fell 7-3 to the Colorado Avalanche in Denver.
The Avalanche were closing out the win as the news began trickling out about their acquisition of Nelson, an impending free agent and one of the best players available at the deadline. Colorado sent forward prospect Calum Ritchie, defenseman Oliver Kylington, a first-round pick in either the 2026 or 2027 draft and a conditional 2028 third-round pick to the Islanders in exchange for Nelson and forward prospect William Dufour.
While the Islanders still are harboring postseason hopes — they are four points out of the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot — the trade of Nelson signals the end of an era and leaves a large hole within their lineup and locker room.
Even at age 33, Nelson has 20 goals — the ninth time in his career he reached the milestone — and is on pace to set career highs by winning 52.8 percent of his faceoffs and averaging 19:21 of ice time per game.
Nelson, a 2010 first-round pick of the Islanders, ends his tenure ranked among the team’s all-time top 10 in games played (fourth with 901), goals (fifth with 295) and points (eighth with 574). He also had 27 goals, including seven game-winners, in 78 playoff games with New York, which made the NHL semifinals in 2020 and 2021 before missing the postseasons in 2022 and being eliminated in the first round in 2023 and 2024.
“There’s been a big group in here — we’ve all kind of been through some ups and downs together,” said defenseman Ryan Pulock, who is one of the Islanders remaining from the back-to-back semifinalists.
“There are a lot of memories there. There’s a lot of special milestones, on and off the ice. We’ve all created some good relationships and some good bonds. When you lose something there, it hurts a little bit.”
Nelson was the only NHL player dealt at the Friday deadline by Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello, who positioned the club to make a playoff run by holding on to impending free agent Kyle Palmieri and fellow 30-somethings Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, all of whom could have fetched a return in a market starved for high-end forward talent.
“Everyone in this room’s excited for that challenge,” Palmieri said. “Obviously, the deadline’s behind us. This is the group that we’re going to do it with, and we’re excited.”
The Sharks, who rank last in the NHL with 43 points and are virtually assured of missing the playoffs for the sixth straight season, left no question as to their intentions this week by making multiple deals.
San Jose acquired numerous draft picks as well as centers Noah Gregor, Zack Ostapchuk and Carl Berglund in exchange for defensemen Vincent Desharnais and Jake Walman, centers Luke Kunin and Nico Sturm, wingers Fabian Zetterlund and Patrick Giles and goalie Vitek Vanecek.
General manager Mike Grier said the flurry of activity was intended to build depth around budding stars William Eklund, William Smith and Macklin Celebrini, all of whom are 22 years or younger and have been drafted in the first round since 2021.
Eklund, Celebrini and Smith rank first, second and seventh, respectively, on the Sharks in point scoring this season. No. 2 on the list, Mikael Granlund, was dealt to the Dallas Stars on Feb. 1. Zetterlund and Walman were fifth and sixth, and Walman was San Jose’s top defenseman.
“You can’t just have all Macklin Celebrinis and Will Smiths — you’re not going to win, I think that’s pretty obvious to most people who’ve been in the game,” Grier said. “You need all types of players, all types of characters, to win in this game.”
–Field Level Media
