Lou Lamoriellos Brock Nelson call will signal Islanders offseason plan

LAS VEGAS — If the Islanders were a different kind of team, being run in a different kind of way, here’s the question everybody would be asking as the NHL descends on Las Vegas for the draft: Who will trade for Brock Nelson?Here are the facts laid bare: The Islanders finished last season 39-27-16 and lost in the first round for the second straight season.It’s been three seasons since they won a playoff round.Nelson, entering the last year of his contract, will be 33 in October and would have real trade value as a perennial 30-goal scorer.For most front offices around the league, this would be cut and dried.

The Islanders’ is not most front offices.That is not to completely rule out a move, mostly because you can never do such a thing when Lou Lamoriello is the one calling the shots.But it is to note that, as the league’s busy season swings open, Nelson’s name is not one getting tossed around with the likes of Mitch Marner, Martin Necas and Nikolaj Ehlers as players whose teams must make an imminent decision on their futures.A decision on Nelson does not need to come between now and July 4 for the Islanders — indeed it would be a mild surprise if a trade or extension did happen over the next week — but whatever does or does not happen here will be instructive as to the degree of change that Lamoriello will chart this summer after declaring nothing off the table.Handing Nelson a contract extension at this stage of his career would signal that, although the Islanders might look different down the lineup next year, there is unlikely to be a seismic change here or, for that matter, any time soon.If the Islanders wanted to break up this core and shake up their dressing room, there’s not an easier way to do it than trading a player on the wrong side of 30 on an expiring contract (though Nelson holds a 16-team no-trade clause).However good Nelson has been — and he has been an excellent Islander for 11 seasons, with the best production of his career comi...