Trading Noah Dobson to Montreal last summer may have been Mathieu Darche’s only option, and it could turn out to be a long-term win for both teams. A year later, with Viktor Eklund and Kashaun Aitchison yet to make their NHL debuts — though the Islanders will hopefully call up Eklund on Tuesday to make Game 82 interesting — it’s too early to judge.
But what was strange, and what remains strange, was seeing so much of the reaction to Dobson from Islanders fans, which often boiled down to “good riddance.” Had Dobson — who suffered an upper-body injury on Saturday and will be re-evaluated in two weeks, taking him out of at least some of the Habs’ first-round series — had returned to Long Island on Sunday as scheduled to defeat the Islanders 11-4 in the playoffs, it seemed a distinct possibility that he would have faced boos.
Perhaps, and hopefully, this is a misread based on the more online parts of the fanbase. When Dobson returns to UPS with the Canadiens next season, he should be ecstatic. The 26-year-old has been an excellent Islander, always representing the franchise well and proving difficult to replace. One of Lou Lamoriello’s biggest mistakes was failing to extend Dobson and treating him like a franchise cornerstone two summers ago. This is clear.
It’s hard to say the Islanders would be in playoff position with Dobson now, mainly because you can’t predict the ripple effects of adding $9.5 million to the cap in the Islanders’ summer. But what you can say for sure is that the Islanders have missed him sorely this season.
This is not inconsistent with the deal, which was done with the long-term in mind, or Emil Heineman, who played well above expectations with 22 goals and looks like a long-term piece of the puzzle for the Isles. It’s an acknowledgment of something obvious: that a right-handed defenseman who plays more than 20 minutes a night is a rare commodity in the NHL, and the Islanders’ blue line has lacked depth all season.
There is a notion that the presence of Matthew Scheft allowed the Islanders to trade Dobson without losing anything. However, Schaefer is left-handed, and no one expected — let alone knew — that he would have much of an impact when the deal was made on draft night.
The Islanders have been able to fill the hole on their right side with Tony DeAngelo this season, and they would be well served to bring back No. 77 this summer. It’s no coincidence that much of their collapse occurred when DeAngelo was out of the lineup injured. The lack of any right fielder at a crucial point in the season proved impossible to overcome.
In the short term, this solution was about as good as you could expect. Combined with Heineman’s season, and the encouraging developments for Eklund and Aitcheson, the long-term outlook for the deal initially looks strong.
However, judging this deal is complicated, and there is a lot that has to go right for the Islanders to be satisfied with it in five years.
Dobson started in Montreal where he left off on Long Island, logging 22:29 on the night with 47 points. He’s a frustrating player because his mistakes always seem to deserve the wrong spotlight. It’s also more than good enough to make that trade-off worth it.
His injury, and the prospect of being without him for the playoffs, poses a big problem for the Canadiens, who typically deploy Dobson and Mike Matheson against the opposition’s top line.
If Eklund becomes part of the Islanders’ top six, and Aitcheson is part of the top four, in addition to Heineman being a 20-goal scorer annually, of course the Islanders will feel good about that. This is also like a best-case scenario.
Prospects, even good ones, are unknown commodities. The Islanders have made strides in how they invest in Bridgeport and in player development this season. However, they will not get a 100% success rate. They could also benefit from more consistency from Heineman, which they hope will come at the right time for a player still in the prime of his career.
You can now safely say that Darsh has turned a difficult situation into something promising. That was the most he could do when he realized Dobson wouldn’t be an Islander this season. It was a smart move by a rookie general manager in a situation that could have ended much worse.
However, whether the Islanders won the deal is an entirely different question. One season is not enough time to answer it.