Islanders have dwindling options for further improvements

As a matter of necessity, the Islanders are not done making moves this summer.

Whether that means there is something coming that would move a tectonic plate within the franchise or merely that the Islanders will resolve their situations with restricted free agents Simon Holmstrom, Oliver Wahlstrom and Ruslan Iskhakov and then call it a summer, though, is a matter of question — and the answer is not one entirely in their own control.

Adding Anthony Duclair on the first day of free agency filled a long-standing roster hole by giving Bo Horvat and Mat Barzal a scoring winger who should stick on the top line.

Adding the combination of Duclair and Maxim Tsyplakov, the Russian winger signed out of the KHL in May, is enough to paint the summer as a success; the Islanders are almost undoubtedly better now than they were before.

But it probably isn’t enough to fundamentally change the team’s 2024-25 ceiling unless there is more to come.

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Ask yourself, have the Islanders changed the equation in a potential series against the Hurricanes, who eliminated them in the first round in both 2023 and 2024?

They’d have a better shot than they did 10 weeks ago — in part thanks to Carolina’s own changes, with Martin Necas presumed to be on his way out in addition to Brett Pesce, Stefan Noesen and Brady Skjei— but the Canes would be favorites today.

With roughly $900,000 of cap space left after Monday’s signings, the Islanders have enough room to sign one of their RFAs to a qualifying offer, or sign a free agent to slightly more than the league minimum, but no more than that.

If they are going to make any more additions of consequence , it will need to be via trade.

Shane Pinto, who looked to be a trade option Monday, ended up staying with the Senators after Ottawa extended an olive branch in the form of dealing Mathieu Joseph to St. Louis to open up salary.

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The two-year deal Pinto signed at $3.75 million annually, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, closes off what would have been an ideal scenario for the Islanders, who now must focus elsewhere.

If that is to be on the trade market, Nikolaj Ehlers and Rutger McGroarty, the pair of Jets wingers who have seen rumors swirl around their respective futures in Winnipeg, would also fill the Islanders’ needs.

Ehlers — who might have been an Islander a decade ago if not for sharing an agent with Nino Niederreiter, who forced his way out of the organization a year before Ehlers was drafted — would add another annual 25-goal scorer to the top-six.

McGroarty, who is reportedly playing another season at the University of Michigan in hopes of getting out of Winnipeg, would give the Isles a high-end, NHL-ready prospect, though it’s not clear whether he would go pro this season if a move happens.

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With Ehlers under contract until the end of this season and the Jets controlling McGroarty’s rights as a 2022 draftee, there is no reason for Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff to rush into a move.

Cheveldayoff also said at last week’s draft that he would try and sign Ehlers to an extension, comparing him to Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele — who were similarly rumored to be on the move out of Manitoba until they weren’t.

In short, it’s a lot less clear that a trade will open up for the Islanders than it looked at various points over the last week.

There are still balls in the air, though, and there is still a likely need to move salary, if only to re-sign Holmstrom.

(It’s getting tougher to understand why the Isles qualified Wahlstrom unless they plan to stash him in the AHL or trade his rights for future considerations).

Likewise, while Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck have yet to join D-man Sebastian Aho in signing elsewhere — the Swede officially inked a deal with the Penguins on Tuesday — it’s just as tough to construct a scenario that ends in their return now as it was 24 hours ago.

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