Islanders News: Sorokin shutout; Soucy acquired from Team Applesauce

The Islanders rebounded from a blah road trip and a worse return home by shutting out the Flyers — with a goal from each special team! — but the most interesting news of the day was confirmation that they were making a trade…with the {plugs nose} Rangers, of all teams. They acquired pending UFA defenseman Carson Soucy for a 2026 third-round pick, an interesting move for a few reasons:

• It addresses the Islanders’ season-long issue of replacing Alex Romanov, after trying many, many candidates from Bridgeport following his major injury.
• It’s the first trade with the Short Island Smurfs since 2010, and only the fourth in their history.
• It does help ignite the Rags’ teardown promised in Letter 2.0, but not in an egregious way.
• Indeed, it comes right before the teams meet for a back-to-back this week. (It’s also helpful to Soucy to stay in the area, with two-year-old twins and a newborn due any day now, although Team Applesauce GM Chris Drury likely gives zero shits about that, given his track record in player relations.)

In the “sell, or compete?” debate on whether to reward a team that has exceeded expectations, Mathieu Darche effectively answers it with: We’ll fill the injury hole, but not at a crazy price. A third-round pick is modest, but effectively a premium for doing the deal now rather than at the deadline. However, you hope the news for right-side D-man Ryan Pulock is truly just “day to day” rather than something more serious to prompt this reinforcement.

I’m in the camp of enjoying this season’s surprises while not hoping they spend too much on trying to beef this team up for a playoff push, but solidifying the blueline at this price is a reasonable move. It’ll be fun to watch to see if Soucy makes a difference.

There would not seem to be roster room to re-sign him even if he loves it and things work out great, so this probably becomes only a short-term marriage of convenience. Plus, Soucy gets to enjoy a few months of playing in front of a better goalie. He is a short-term Ranger — acquired last year for a third-round pick — so the Stench of Ranger should be mild for him.

Islanders News

• The Islanders got back on track with a 4-0 blanking of the Flyers, and another shutout for Ilya Sorokin. This one was a relatively lighter load for the net king, just 21 saves required. [LHH]
• It was a much-needed win, played with “playoff-like” focus. [Post]
• Takeaways: sparked by a shorthanded goal, a classic example of Cizikas and Pageau taking advantage of an opponent’s lazy power play. Patrick Roy also called it probably Max Tsyplakov’s “best game of the year.” [Isles]
• Gross: The response they needed after the shutout and benching vs. the Sabres. [Newsday]
• The Soucy trade begins the Red Pants’ selloff. [Post]
• Yet more line shuffling paid off, but they need to find a groove here sometime. [Post]
• Islanders Anxiety podcast: Lamenting the present and inadvertently predicting the future: It wouldn’t cost much to get a reinforcement. [LHH]
• In other injury news, Simon Holmstrom was sick and Calum Ritchie missed officially for an injury. [Isles]
• Also linked in the intro above: seven facts about Soucy, international softball star. [Isles]

Hey Carson, come with us — however this goes, you’re certain to enjoy a more fun locker room than that toxic stew Drury’s got going on Short Island.

Elsewhere

Last night’s other NHL scores included just three other games, including the Rangers beating the Bruins in a three-point game, and an Oilers defenseman hat trick.

• This was supposed to be a year where the Senators took the next step. Now what? [Sportsnet]
• Auston Matthews says the U.S. has the ingredients to win in Italy. [NHL]
• William Nylander was fined $5,000 for his pressbox middle finger. [Sportsnet]
• A middle finger, by the way, that was “symbolic of their lowered standard.” [Sportsnet]