Islanders Not Prioritizing Signing Players To Extensions Ahead Of Free Agency

While July 1 signifies the start of NHL free agency, it also is the date when teams can sign players entering the final years of their deal to extensions.

We saw this occur last summer when the New York Islanders inked Ilya Sorokin to an eight-year extension, also signing back all of their pending free agents.

Related: Islanders Bring Back Engvall, Mayfield & Varlamov, Extend Sorokin

This go around, the Islanders can offer long-term extensions to forwards Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri, and defensemen Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov.

But that's not something that Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello is all too concerned about.

"That is not the focus right now," Lamoriello said when asked about Nelson and Palmieri extensions. "That's not in any disrespect to them or anything. I think the focus right now is getting this team into the best situation we can."

When asked about his two young defensemen, Lamoriello said that his previous statement "applies to everybody."

It's very likely that if the Islanders eventually ink Nelson and Palmieri to extensions, they will be team-friendly deals.

The belief is that Dobson's deal would start with at least an eight, for likely eight years, while Romanov's would be cheaper, around five years at $5 million annually.

Related: How Hronek's Contract Extension With Canucks Impacts Islanders' Dobson, Romanov

But as Lamoriello said, that's not the priority.

The Islanders are entering free agency with $5.8 million in available cap space before re-signing anyone.

We reported back on Friday that the Islanders are working on an extension with defenseman Mike Reilly, which will likely eat between $1 and $2 million of the cap.

Related: Islanders & Mike Reilly Working On Possible Extension

Simon Holmstrom, Ruslan Iskhakov, and Oliver Wahlstrom were sent qualifying offers. If they sign, the Islanders would have $3.19 million in available cap space.

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