00:00Noah Dobson has been traded to the Canadians for the 16th and 17th picks and for Emile Heinemann.
00:08Huge blockbuster deal.
00:10As everybody has already talked about, it seems likely that the Islanders are going to try to package the 16th and 17th picks to move up for Higgins.
00:22And there's a number of teams that could be with.
00:27Utah is one that's been talked about.
00:28Boston is another that's been talked about.
00:31I don't think those are necessarily the only two that are possibilities.
00:36And look, if they walk away from Friday night with James Higgins and Matthew Schaefer, the fan base would be absolutely thrilled.
00:44That's the best player in the draft in Schaefer, according to a consensus of experts, plus a potential star who is from Long Island and grew up an Islander fan.
00:57And would be obviously an incredible story.
01:01Moving Dobson also frees up significant money in free agency for them, which is not something they really had before.
01:09Of course, they'll need to use at least part of that to replace Noah Dobson.
01:17And, you know, it also puts the roster kind of in flux.
01:23The right side of their defense right now looks pretty thin.
01:26And, you know, Ryan Pulak and Scott Mayfield, both coming off, you know, not the greatest of years.
01:35Maybe there is a window to bring back Tony D'Angelo now.
01:38They certainly need kind of another offense first.
01:42Puck moving D, and D'Angelo would be pretty cheap in that role.
01:47But to kind of, I guess, temper some of the excitement over this, it is a little hard to square this with Matthew Darsh saying that he wants to keep the Islanders as competitive as possible next year.
02:04You know, if they end up getting Higgins, they'll come away from the night with two great, great prospects and set up well for the future.
02:14But regardless of whether they get Higgins or not, the roster looks a lot less competitive right now than it did 24 hours ago for next season.
02:24We don't know whether Schaefer is going to be in the NHL next year.
02:31I suspect he will be.
02:33Same thing with Higgins if they end up getting him.
02:37But, look, even if both of those guys are in the league and with the Islanders next year, those are two rookies, two young kids who are, however good they're going to be in the future, they're going to make mistakes.
02:52They're going to be 18-year-old rookies who need to put on more muscle and get more experience and all of that.
03:03So my next question immediately is, you know, is this a pivot towards more of a full rebuild?
03:13And if so, you know, are there other moves coming down the pipeline?
03:19And if not, then how can the Islanders, you know, pivot this and sort of work along two tracks of keeping their roster competitive for next season
03:29and contending for a playoff spot while also protecting, you know, their young talent that, you know, suddenly looks like a real strength of this organization.
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