1. A rebuilding Kings team will not give up that much for a 2nd pair dman whose salary is higher than his AAV.
2. Get Lee away from Eberle. Please!
3. We need Hickey for more depth.

1. It's the Blues 2021 2nd. Will be late in the round and a year away. Leddy is worth that much... and it says any team
2. Wouldn't be too concerned with the lines. Did them quick. But I think Lee needs to benefit from having playmakers on his line. Won't drive play by himself.
3. Hickey hasn't played an NHL game in a year and a half. Boychuk is still on the roster and Aho would be in Bridgeport. Depth is fine

1. Leddy's value has taken a hit playing for Trotz. If I want Leddy, I'm not giving that much.
2. Then play Lee with Bailey.
3. Aho < Hickey given the role of the player filling in for a perhaps injured or scratched Greene.

I dont think Leddy has this value right now.
Montreal needs a LD, maybe Leddy for a 3rd at best?

If you keep giving every player 5+ million on long term deals, how will you fit Bodie, Dobson and Walhstrom under the cap? The Islanders in 2 or 3 years will have the worst cap situation in the cap era.

The contracts given out here are for your 1C and 2 top-4 Dmen. Have to do it.

Boychuk, Clutterbuck and Komarov are all up in 2 years = $12.5M
Varlamov in 3 = $5M
Cizikas in 1 (good player, but $3.35M is too much for 4C and PK)

Lee, Bailey, Eberle, Nelson and Pague have 5 years or more each on their deals. The Islanders cap management is terrible. The NHL is moving away from having a middle class of high paid players. If you are a star you get star money, if you are secondary depth, you don't deserve huge pay days. The Islanders secondary players all make way too much money. Its going to hurt you big time.

Lee's will hurt for sure, Pageau maybe as well. But Nelson, Eberle and even Bailey are worth their money and I think will be to the point that it doesn't cripple the team. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if one of those guys is left exposed for expansion, none of them have NMCs. Could be attractive veteran options for Seattle to pick up. I'm not saying they should be banking on that, but its a possibility.

As for "the worst cap situation in the cap era," lets say the scenario in this post comes to fruition. Next season you have just under $10 million to sign Beau, Pelech and Bellows. I think that, in tandem with any trades/buyouts that are made (Komarov/Boychuk) + expansion, with be enough. Then in 2022, Dobson is the only RFA they really have to worry about. The guys at the top make a lot, but not only are they worth it, but its not back breaking.

Consensus among Los Angeles adherents is that we'd give up our 2020 third (66th overall, give or take, and this year) for Leddy, whose remaining term fits our overall strategy pretty darn well,

The evidence to suggest mid range players being high level players as they move into their 30's is limited at best. Look at Neal who was as good if not better than any of these guys in his 20's and now is barely an NHLer. Laad was a very good player in his 20's similar to Bailey, Eberle and the others. The decline for hockey players hits in the 30's across all players, some keep their value longer but the vast majority see their speed, and skills deteriorate once they hit 30. Playing past 32 is becoming a rarity for all players. The Islanders have 2 full lines of 5+ million dollar contracts for players that are either almost 30 or over 30. At best 2 of them may be okay contributors through their 33rd birthdays, in all likelihood, Lee is going to be another Laad, as is Eberle, Bailey, eventually Pageau and Nelson. Moving those contracts is going to be utterly impossible since less and less teams are willing to do contracts like that for aging players so there won't be many teams that will have similar contracts they could move out.

Lou should have retired after leaving TO, he's only tarnishing his reputation. Islander fans will point to the Isle record since he has arrived but that is short term success that will a) not continue for long and b) be undone by terrible cap situations 2-3 years from now.

Those contracts are actually fine. Lee's might be questionable given the 7 years but Bailey, Nelson, Pageau, and Eberle's deals are also fine.
Ladd, Leddy, Boychuk, and Clutterbuck on the other hand.....

The chances that all of those soon to be or 30 something players making over 5 million with 4-7 years of term being anywhere near the level they are right now as they move into their 30's is incredibly unlikely. You have Laad on your team, he is the poster child for secondary players declining massively in their 30's. Neal, Lucic, etc etc, it happens all the time and yet fans still argue that their 30 something year old players won't decline. Perry? Getzlaf? Kopitar? Carter? The list goes on and on and on. Players that work in specific situations or benefited by playing with better players won't earn their paychecks when they lose half a step as they age.

Ladd was signed by Snow. Not Lou.

I am aware of that, however, the point being made is that Ladd is what happens when you give term to a player in his 30's. They will not get better and in almost every case will decline and when that happens the player is almost untradeable. GM's are shying away from deals like that now, mainly because they have learned their lessons. Lou certainly hasn't, Marleau, Lee, Bailey, Pageau etc are all deals that stretch into players mid 30's. I'd argue some of those deals are bad right now and will only get worse. Lee isn't a 7 million dollar player, Barzal is the only player in the top 6 who I think is a game breaker for New York and he's going to get better, pretty much the rest of their top 6 has likely already seen their best hockey behind them.

Bailey is only making 5 mil AAV with no clause. How is that remotely bad? That's bad if he averages 20-30 points annually during this term. Nelson was on pace for 65 points this year. Eberle was only making 5.5 AAV and was on a 50 pt pace despite being hurt earlier. None of those players have a NMC either.
Also, Bailey was signed by Snow, not Lou. Pageau is an all-purpose great 3C and good 2C and isn't 30 right now and is making less than 6 mil AAV for 40-50 points as well. Again, you're looking at the wrong contracts to point fingers at.

The cap era has shown one thing more than anything, secondary scoring isn't really that hard to find. Vegas was a perfect example to show how secondary players in the right situation can go from zero to hero awfully fast. William Karlsson was a nobody in Columbus, he gets a chance to play with better linemates and has an unreal year, and then immediately falls back to earth. The difference between Bailey Andreas Johnsson for example is incredibly small. Both are good players sure but both entirely replaceable. Neither are game breakers but just good secondary options. Secondary support guys just don't do enough to warrant big money. This has been proven time and time again. Pay top end talent sure because those guys are just so much better then the mid range guys. But when a mid range guy wants big money and term (5+) especially when these guys are entering their 30's, its likely going to be a problem.

Lee and Eberle make more combined than Matthews does, would you rather have Matthews or Lee and Eberle? No rational person would say Lee and Eberle, combined they are not remotely close to as capable as Matthews and almost any other NHLer

Johnnson hasn't broken 50 points once. Wouldn't be smart to compare the 2 just yet. And are you really comparing Lee and Eberle to Matthews? No duh! I didn't realize players like Matthews(a top 10 player in the entire league) grow on trees. Again, Lee is the only case you can make regarding big money and term though again, he doesn't have a NMC and will be able to pot in 25-35 goals when he's playing with Bailey down the road.
Ladd, Clutterbuck, Boychuk, and Leddy make over 20 mil. There's the real problems.

The point I am making is that Johnsson to Bailey is very close. I'd take Johnsson's speed and contract over Bailey 10 out of 10 times. Johnsson is easy to move, he's got a fair contract or even team friendly deal for a 40 point winger who can play anywhere in the lineup. Bailey is a very similar player but he's scored a little more. Both guys by themselves are just secondary players. Why pay 5+ million on a secondary player when you can pay less than 3.5?

As for Matthews vs Lee and Eberle, the point of that is talking about allocating money. I'd say its safe to say 80% of people on here will say Matthews is overpaid. But as I mentioned, he makes less than Lee and Eberle combined. Is Matthews with Gauthier worth more then Lee and Eberle? I don't think a rational person would say they'd rather have Lee and Eberle. So how then is Matthews overpaid? Because McKinnon signed a long term deal after his first 3 years were 63, 38 and 52 points and then he exploded into what he is now? Matthews accomplished a lot more in his first 3 years than McKinnon did, and also ended his ELC after Eichel, Draisaitl and McDavid signed massive deals. Matthews is not overpaid, Lee and Eberle certainly are.

Eberle is making 5.5 x5 to pot in 45-60 points annually? How is that remotely an overpay? People aren't complaining about Matthews being overpaid. They're complaining at him getting that much for only 5 years. They have no control after that 5th year. The smarter move would've been to do what the Bolts did with Kucherov and currently Brayden Point.

That is all just irrelevant. Matthews will earn every dollar he makes and in 4 years will resign. He wants to be the best and loves the spotlight, what is Arizona going to offer him in 4 years? They won't even have a team, they'll be in Quebec city by then. As for 5.5 for 45-60 points, you can get that production or similar production for much less money. Star players can turn a lot of 40 point guys into 60 point guys. Can Bailey turn a 40 point guy into a 65 point guy? No, I don't think he can turn himself into a 65 point guy without playing with a star player. So why bother paying the guy who benefits from playing with the star player bigger money because he benefited by playing with a better player. I think you are going to see a huge divide between the stars and the secondary guys. Every team that has actual star players will have some high paid players and then some mid range guys on show me deals and then a bunch of cheap depth. If you over spend on those mid range guys, you'll end up in a spot where you need to give a young guy a raise and you'll either just not be able to afford the young player you will have to try to move an overpriced depth guy.

Tampa is an example of that. This off season they will have to move Killorn, Johson and Palat or at least 2 of those guys to fit Cernak, Cirelli and Sergachev. 3 30 year old secondary players making around 5 million that they absolutely have to move to afford the better younger players. And on top of that they still have to prepare for a contract for Point that will have a starting point of 10 million a season. Palat, Killorn, Johnson are the same as Eberle, Bailey, Lee and the rest of those contracts we are talking about. They may see good now when you have nothing better in the lineup but you have Barzal that needs a deal this off season, Pullock, and then a little further down the road, Dobson, Walhstrom and others and those guys will be pushing the 30 year olds down the lineup who will then be 5+ million dollar contracts not scoring much while playing on the 3rd line. Trading them will be as easy as trading Ladd.

Tampa already has the established core to have the luxury of moving Killorn or Johnson. Islanders aren't touching Bailey, Eberle, or Lee yet until construction of that roster is complete. There's still internal pieces coming along but they're not there yet.
You move Leddy, Boychuk, Ladd, Clutterbuck, and Komarov first and you have saved 23 mil before the new kids get their deals. Then the process gets repeated with Lee, Eberle, and Bailey further down the road. Then when they get moved that's 17+ mil.
Core wasn't going to be established in just 2 years under the mess Snow's regime left behind.