On March 6, Brock Nelson's 12-year run with the New York Islanders came to an end when they traded him to the Colorado Avalanche in a huge deadline deal.
Before that, though, there was another Central division team vying for his services.
According to Marco D'Amico of RG.org, the Winnipeg Jets had a deal in place to acquire Nelson from the Islanders, but he declined to waive his 16-team no-trade clause. Nelson, 33, just finished the final year of a six-year, $36 million contract ($6 million AAV) he signed with the Islanders back in 2019. He is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
While it's not known exactly what Winnipeg would've sent to New York, D'Amico posited a plausible theory on who could've been in the package.
"Given the package the Islanders received from Colorado—and with GM Lou Lamoriello stating post-deadline, 'We had to get back a top prospect'—it is believed that one of Brad Lambert (2022, No. 30), Colby Barlow (2023, No. 23), or Brayden Yager (2023, No. 14 via Pittsburgh) would have been included in the proposed Winnipeg deal, along with draft picks," D'Amico wrote.
Lambert, son of former Islanders head coach Lane Lambert, has only played seven NHL games, while Barlow and Yager have yet to make their NHL debuts. However, any of the three would've been big additions for the Islanders as they look to build their farm system back up during a retooling period.
New York still made out pretty well with the package it got from Colorado, which included a 2026 first-round pick, a 2028 conditional third-round pick, forward prospect Calum Ritchie and defenseman Oliver Kylington. The third-round pick was contingent on the Avalanche winning the Stanley Cup and thus did not transfer, and the Islanders ended up flipping Kylington to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for future considerations. Still, landing a future first-round pick and Ritchie, the number 27 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, was a nice bit of business.
That's especially the case when Nelson disappointed in his brief run with Colorado. He scored a respectable 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in 19 regular season games with the Avalanche, but only mustered four assists in their seven-game, first-round loss to the Dallas Stars.
The Jets still made some notable moves at the trade deadline, acquiring defenseman Luke Schenn from the Pittsburgh Penguins and forward Brandon Tanev from the Seattle Kraken. However, those moves weren't enough to lift them to a championship, as they lost in a six-game, second-round series against the Stars.
Make sure you bookmark Breakaway On SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, recruiting coverage, and more!
