Teams around the NHL are declining to give qualifying offers to semi-decent players, a situation the New York Islanders do not find themselves in because they sign all of their players to long-term contracts.
Okay, that’s not exactly true or fair, but having forwards 1-12 locked up for eternity has removed some of the uncertainty from the past two offseasons. True, signings last summer weren’t announced until the eve of training camp, but they were deduecd.
The trade deadline extensions for Zach Parise and Cal Clutterbuck raised the question of what an Otto Koivula, for example, has gotta do to get a crack at the top 12?