Brock Nelsons Islanders milestone comes with a grim reality check

Brock Nelson has a lot of reasons to be feeling sentimental right about now.He plays his 900th game as an Islander at Madison Square Garden on Monday night, becoming just the fifth player in franchise history to do so.If he makes it as far as Saturday in an Islanders uniform, he’ll pass Bobby Nystrom to be fourth on the all-time list.And then there is the question of whether he will make it to Saturday at all.

Nelson’s name is one of the most hotly discussed in the rumor mill as the league barrels toward Friday’s trade deadline.By all accounts, GM Lou Lamoriello has not yet decided whether to be a seller, but with Nelson unsigned for next season, each day could be his last on the Island.“Crazy to think back to early days and now get to this point.It’s been a lot of fun,” Nelson said before facing the Rangers.

“A lot of great guys, great memories playing, growing.A lot of different things.

Even outside the game, how fast time flies is crazy.”Nelson has navigated these waters before, hearing his name out there at the trade deadline when he went into it unsigned in both 2018 and 2019.There was some noise around it last year, too. This, however, feels different.

The Islanders are out of a playoff spot.The core is on its last legs.

The Islanders, seemingly, want to extend Nelson, but he is still refusing to tip his hand on what he wants to happen, well aware that to do so would be to give up leverage in one direction or another.A few weeks ago in Montreal, he didn’t give a direct answer to the question of what he wants.Does he know the answer, even if he won’t say?“It all depends,” Nelson said.

“I think I said there, too, everyone wants just an easy answer.Doesn’t always work out that way.“I’ve loved playing here — I love playing here.

I’m still playing here.Until somebody tells me differently, I’m just worried about playing and making a difference in the games.

And I know that I feel great and have a lot of years left.I’...