The difference is Zaitsev can at least play in the NHL and Laad can't and you need space so you'll have to give up a lot more than a guy you don't want and 2 2nds.

Better off keeping Ladd, especially if we’re giving up assets to get Zaitsev. I’ve suggested a Boychuk for Zaitsev deal in the past, but there’s no incentive for NYI to do that now that Boychuk is LTIRetired

The isles don’t need to trade ladd - boychuk has already been sent to robidas island

Boychuck has a legit injury. But leave it to Islander fans to believe that Lou has the power to just send useless players to LTIR.

The doctor told boychuk his eye was fine after the injury. Lou probably told him he’s going to the AHL and boychuk ended up taking one from the team and LTIRetiring

A player will retire only if his contract is insured, meaning he's still going to get paid even after retiring. For that to happen every insurance company will need proof the injury will prevent them from playing. The NHL requires proof from a 3rd party that a player is hurt for them to be on LTIR. Lou can't, hasn't and never will just make guys go on LTIR or retire because of how awesome he thinks he is. Your belief that this is all planned is just silly.

He didn’t officially retire, he’s going on LTIR. Lou was trying to trade boychuk for two months, then when he needs to sign barzal all of a sudden boychuk can’t play anymore...

Value wise, if you remove 1 of the 2nd round picks going to Ottawa and add a late pick (5th or 6th) it's pretty close.

The only issue becomes that Zaitsev's experience on defence becomes tough to replace. With the young guys they have back there it might be a tough move for them to make. But they did just acquire both of Gudbranson and Brown so a move could be made.

You could be on to something here though

I agree NYI should just keep Ladd. This is a short season, and with covid-19, Ladd can actually be useful as a member of the taxi squad.

After this season, when he has two seasons left on his contract, rebuilding teams will start to look at his contract, but at the very least, in 22/23 a rebuilding team will take him, with a lot less incentive than it would cost today. A 22/23 trade and buyout makes him an easy trade to a rebuilding team with a lot of cap space, since only $1MM would be owed, and they can eat the cap easily.

Revisit the dump next offseason.

I mean, it's not the first time Lou has pulled something like this. & he's known as Loup hole Lou so it shouldn't shock anyone if that's actually what he did

I can see ladd going on LTIR next offseason. He has chronic back issues and both of his knees are shot

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/islanders-johnny-boychuk-retires-due-eye-injury-suffered-last-season/

Retired

Lupal had a 3rd party examine him and it was proven he couldn't play anymore. The NHL doesn't let this sort of stuff happen. And there would be huge consequences if teams tried it.

He did not officially retire, the islanders made sure to say that when they broke the news...

“Career has come to an end”

#Isles News: After numerous and extensive medical exams, New York Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk’s career has come to an end, due to an eye injury suffered during the 2019-20 regular season.https://t.co/HqUt4e0Se0

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) November 25, 2020

It's called Robidas Island for a reason

Which would mean it's an insured contract so he will just go on LTIR. Which will require medical proof of. The NHL is very strict on cap circumvention, they don't just take everything on Lou's word. So Boychuck isn't able to play and it will be proven so he can go on LTIR. Ladd certainly won't follow him just because you think it would be awesome

Because Robidas's legs failed him and he just couldn't play anymore. This was all talked about because Lupul made an Instagram post about not being allowed to play and both him and Robidas went through a physical with a 3rd party which they had to do anyways but the NHL made sure it happened again just to make sure and it was proven.

Cool and unless it can be proven he can't play he won't be allowed on LTIR. The NHL follows this closely. But believing it's all because Lou is God is way more beneficial to your fantasy.

Again, he's called Loup Hole Lou for a reason. He finds Loup holes in the CBA to benefit his team. You don't find it an awful coincidence that when his team needs cap space to sign their best player, all of a sudden the guy they were trying to trade that has a $6M cap hit "can't play" and they get the relief?
... comeon' even you're smart enough to see that.

Who said Lou is a god lol he just continues to circumvent the cap when he needs to. It’s just the truth

Don't you think every other team and GM would just let him get away with a clear and transparent cap circumvention? Do you think you are smarter then all of them? If it's this easy to make this happen, why does Neal, or Lucic, or Kesler, Erickson or many many other aging NHLers not worth their contract still play? If it can't be proven the NHL won't let it happen. Come on, you are smarter than this.

It isn't and if it's this obvious why would the NHL let it happen? The answer, they won't. And if it was this easy why doesn't every team do this with all their bad contracts? They don't because it's not that easy. Lou got lucky with Boychuck, that's it. Just like Tampa got lucky with Kucherov being injured (sort of, he's a huge loss). But taking this as some masterful work by Lou is the precise reason why he gets so much undeserved praise. Everything he does wrong, no one seems to notice because his team is overachieving and everything that goes right he gets credit for. Lou set up TO to succeed and Dubas made them fail one such common train of thought and yet much of the work Dubas has had to do was clean up the mess Lou made with Marleau, Zaitsev and Martin. Somehow the majority of people just don't see anything except results and forget everything else that happens.

You mean GM'a that are scared to even offersheet someone because of the "GM code"? .. yeah I'm sure they're gonna step in and say one of their fellow GM'a are breaking the rules.

Kesler has been on LTIR and likely won't play again. That's been long reported. He does it cause he still gets paid. But the difference is that Anaheim has the cap space that it doesn't affect them. If you don't see that it's fishy that Boychuk all of a sudden can't play when his team needs the cap relief, then you need to give your head a shake.

Oh and fwiw, Boychuk played in the playoffs after suffering the eye injury before and still played. So clearly he was still able to play after suffering the injury.

But I guess you're not as smart to see that?

You're a very arrogant and unpleasant person.