For the few who don’t know, Brock Nelson signed a new six-year deal with the New York Islanders worth an AAV of $6 million per year.
Overall, the money was fair. It could’ve and maybe should've been lower based on his career numbers, that being said, based on his production this year you have to think someone would’ve been willing to offer even higher than $6 million in free agency. Nelson can fill a spot as a second-line centre or could be an excellent third-line centre in the long-term. If he’s able to hit the 25-goal mark and 50-point mark consistently like he did this year, especially with the cap rising, this could be an excellent contract. The only slight concern would be if Nelson drops back to only scoring 40-45 points per year but even then, the cap will continue to rise and the money value probably evens itself out. In paying Nelson $6 million per year, the Islanders will still have room to find a second-line centre and use Nelson on the third line at some point, should they choose to.
On the other hand, the term on this deal is excellent and it’s a major reason why the contract looks good. Nelson will be turning 28 years old for the start of next season, which is about as close to an ideal signing age for a pending UFA as you’re going to get. The deal will continue through many of Nelson’s prime years and will expire likely right around the time Nelson starts to see a real decline. You always worry about a seven or eight year deal which will be horrible in the final few years but Nelson's deal was kept short and sweet.
Another thing to note here is that Lou Lamoriello set a good baseline for how the Anders Lee negotiation is going to go. Nelson had more points than Lee as a centre this year which makes for a key argument that Lee shouldn’t be getting much more than Nelson. Lee has a higher career points per game average but Nelson has now finished with more points in two of the last four seasons. Consider that Nelson has also been excellent in terms of staying healthy similar to Lee and there isn’t a whole lot that Lee can use to leverage himself over Nelson’s contract. With Nelson getting $6 million per year, it’s hard to see Lee get anything above $6.5 million per year now.
In getting Nelson signed, Lamoriello has lessened his workload a bit this offseason and can turn his attention to Lee, Robin Lehner and Jordan Eberle, though who knows whether Eberle is likely to be back. Overall, this is a fair deal for both Nelson and the team and it sets a solid baseline for future Islander contracts.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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