As reported by The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta, Nick Leddy is on the trading block. How serious this is remains up in the air, as it’s long been rumoured Leddy could be on the move. That being said, with the New York Islanders lacking scoring up front, this could be the time to pull the trigger on a trade.
Leddy played big minutes for the Islanders this year and despite a drop in production, he's consistently been good for producing offensively. Something difficult with Leddy though is that he’s a left-side defenseman, which are a bit easier to come by. Leddy is an offensive defenseman, which means there’s pretty much always some sort of market for him but it’s probably much more “if the price is right” for many teams versus filling an actual need. The Islanders will almost certainly be looking for a forward who can help right now, versus prospects or picks. As for the return, it’s realistic to expect someone who would slot in as a number four, five or six forward on the team, in terms of ability to produce.
As an example of a return, Montreal could be a possible partner. The Canadiens have quite a few forwards all in the same age range as Leddy who have produced around the 50-60 point mark. A few names worth checking in on could be Andrew Shaw or Phillip Danault. One actual one-for-one return that could be possible is Tomas Tatar. He scored 25 goals and 58 points in 80 games this year and is usually good for somewhere between 45-55 points per year. He’s 28 years old and is locked up for two more years at $4.8M per year and would provide sure goal scoring on the wing for New York. The only issue is that Tatar is now starting to get to the age where you may not want to give him a long-term deal after the two years are up or you would have to accept the strong chance that it could end up being a bad contract if he’s re-signed.
Naming Tatar as a return is strictly a guess that will probably amount to nothing. But what Tatar is good for is a comparable for the kind of return Leddy could bring in. Ideally the player coming back New York’s way is a bit younger or has more term left but it would be a player with a similar production rate. Leddy, though a solid addition for any team isn’t necessarily filling a position of need for many, so if he is destined to move on, it has to be someone that another team won’t have too hard of a time parting with.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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