Per Chris Botta at Islanders Point Blank (great work by Chris in breaking this story) the New York Islanders have traded goalie Dwayne Roloson to the Tampa Bay Lightning for defensive prospect Ty Wishart.
Roloson, 41, played in 20 games for the Islanders this season, compiling a record of 6-13-1 with a 2.64 goals against average and .916 save percentage. The overall numbers do not speak to the improved play of late for Roloson who won four of his last five starts and other than a blow-up against the Rangers has been very good in each game.
The move helps the Lightning in getting a goaltender to sure up their weakest link at the moment, but also means the Lightning are likely to make other goaltending moves with Dan Ellis, Mike Smith and now strong play from rookie Cedrick Desjardins all on the roster. Desjardins likely goes back to the minors but something will have to be done with one of the other two veterans. Excellent move by Steve Yzerman to get a veteran goalie to sure up his team without having to give anyone on his current roster or one of his upper prospects.
For the Islanders Wishart is a former 1st round draft pick in 2006 by San Jose and was sent to Tampa Bay as a part of the Dan Boyle trade in 2008. This season Wishart has four goals, eighteen assists in 31 games in the AHL this season. Wishart was ranked 6th by Hockey's Future among Tampa Bay Prospects heading into this season. Have to believe that the Islanders could have gotten more for Roloson than Wishart at this point, even though there is still a lot of upside to Wishart.
At some point the NHL must start looking into the Islanders and their utter lack of interest in putting a competitive product on the ice as this move puts them even further below the salary cap floor.
Is Roloson the missing piece to make the Lightning a contender?
