Islanders have dwindling options for further improvements

As a matter of necessity, the Islanders are not done making moves this summer. Whether that means there is something coming that would move a tectonic plate within the franchise or merely that the Islanders will resolve their situations with restricted free agents Simon Holmstrom, Oliver Wahlstrom and Ruslan Iskhakov and then call it a summer, though, is a matter of question — and the answer is not one entirely in their own control. Adding Anthony Duclair on the first day of free agency filled a long-standing roster hole by giving Bo Horvat and Mat Barzal a scoring winger who should stick on the top line.Adding the combination of Duclair and Maxim Tsyplakov, the Russian winger signed out of the KHL in May, is enough to paint the summer as a success; the Islanders are almost undoubtedly better now than they were before.

But it probably isn’t enough to fundamentally change the team’s 2024-25 ceiling unless there is more to come. Ask yourself, have the Islanders changed the equation in a potential series against the Hurricanes, who eliminated them in the first round in both 2023 and 2024? They’d have a better shot than they did 10 weeks ago — in part thanks to Carolina’s own changes, with Martin Necas presumed to be on his way out in addition to Brett Pesce, Stefan Noesen and Brady Skjei— but the Canes would be favorites today. With roughly $900,000 of cap space left after Monday’s signings, the Islanders have enough room to sign one of their RFAs to a qualifying offer, or sign a free agent to slightly more than the league minimum, but no more than that.If they are going to make any more additions of consequence, it will need to be via trade. Shane Pinto, who looked to be a trade option Monday, ended up staying with the Senators after Ottawa extended an olive branch in the form of dealing Mathieu Joseph to St.

Louis to open up salary.The two-year deal Pinto signed at $3.75 million annually, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, closes off what wo...