Zeitgeist: Instead of Re-signing, Streit, Visnovsky Traded to 29 Other NHL Teams

Y'know what? Throw in Nabokov, too... - USA TODAY Sports

Rather than re-sign their pending unrestricted free agents, the New York Islanders cashed in defensemen Mark Streit and Lubomir Visnovsky by trading them to every other team in the NHL. As expected.


UNIONDALE, N.Y. (IFP) _ The New York Islanders made a pair of trades today, sending veteran defensemen Mark Streit and Lubomir Visnovsky to all 29 other teams in the NHL.

The savvy, puck-moving blueliners are expected to the perfect fit for all of their new clubs. In exchange, the Islanders will be happy to receive just a few low-round draft picks and some probably busted prospects that could use a fresh start with a team that will give them ice time.

Both players are unrestricted free agents at the end of the season. Neither is expected to sign an extension with the Islanders because of a provision in the league's new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Visnovsky will arrive in Edmonton, Washington, Detroit, Philadelphia, Montreal, Toronto, Buffalo, Carolina, St. Louis, New Jersey and Tampa Bay within the next few days to bring a big point shot and a solid defensive game to those teams. Streit is expected to quarterback the powerplays for Vancouver, Los Angeles, Winnipeg, San Jose, Boston, Nashville, Minnesota, Dallas, Phoenix, and Ottawa. Chicago, Pittsburgh and Anaheim will bring the pair in as injury insurance for the playoffs, while Florida, Colorado and Columbus will acquire them to bring veteran leadership to their franchise rebuilding projects.

Both will be flipped by every team to the New York Rangers before the NHL's trade deadline on April 3rd, and Calgary is expected to sign both players to 5-year contract extensions with no-movement clauses.

"It's bittersweet. It's very difficult being traded to every team"


"It's bittersweet. It's very difficult being traded to every team," said Streit, the Islanders captain since 2009. "I loved my time on Long Island and I look forward to having a chance at winning the Stanley Cup with all 29 other teams."

Visnovsky spent just a few weeks with New York after being acquired at the 2012 Entry Draft in a trade with the Ducks. He filed a grievance to have the trade nullified and wished to stay in Slovakia near his family playing for Bratislava of the KHL. But he lost a mediation hearing and finally reported to the Islanders in early February.

"It's always tough being traded, especially when you have a [expletive] no-trade clause and teams keep [expletive] trading you," a visibly perturbed Visnovsky said. "But the good news is, I've had my luggage packed this whole time waiting for just the right time to escape the Islanders like we used to do in the old days as a Soviet satellite.

"If that means playing for every other hockey team across North America, so be it."

Despite hanging around the playoff bubble, the Islanders chose to make the deals due to pressure from media and fans. Just not their own.

"We read so many articles about trading them, it just seemed like the right thing to do," Islanders general manager Garth Snow said. "We wish Mark and Lubo nothing but success playing for every other NHL team. We know the fans that ridiculed them as Islanders will really enjoy pinning all of their Stanley Cup and/or playoff-clinching hopes on them."

teraz som si hodil do googlu meno visnovsky clanky poslednu hodinu a vravi aj GM NYI ze ho asi vymeni.....

neviem osobne neverim ze visna podpise, uverim az ked to bude na papieri

dik. NTC je z nasich Gaborik a NMC je Handzus a Chara...... zaujimave je ze Hossa nema ani NTC ani NMC

chalani aky je rozdiel medzi No-trade clause a No- movement clause?

kedze nehral Handzus mozno pripravuju jeho vymenu a nechcu aby sa zranil

Detroit povolal Nyquista do prveho teamu

Cital som neake spekulacie ohladne Detroitu a vo viacerych sa spomina ako protihodnota Tatar. je realne ze ho Detroit pusti? pls Ondro vyjadri sa aj ty

ja myslim ze okolo 2.5M

kuwo co si myslis kolko ponukne isles visnovi.... teraz zaraba 3M

samozrejme suhlasim ale myslim si ze teamy co uz maju teraz hracov co ich chcu cez leto vykupit tak sa ich budu snazit vymenit uz teraz, prepokladam ze nebude taka nuda ako pri minulo rocnom TDL

ja si naopak myslim ze 3.4 nebude nuda kedze sa bude znizovat buducu sezonu platovy strop a teamy budu sa chciet uz teraz zbavit hracov s ktorymi nerataju, a este su dva tyzdna do vtedy este moze par teamov vypadnut z boja o play off

na Ceresnaka ma Rangers prava iba do 1 juna cize by mu mohli ponuknut novacikovsku zmluvu... a co sa tyka Hrivika to som cital ale neviem dobre po ANG tak vela som nepochopil

Neviete ako to vyzera s Hrivikom? Kedy by mohol hrat?

Peter Ceresnak ukoncil v sezonu v OHL bude povolany do AHL a ponuknu mu Rangers zmluvu? ja som na vazkach

Guverneri NHL schvalili rozlozenie divizi!

Ondro ja na nikoho nenadavam, len som napisal ze to nechapem, nenadavam na Abdelkadera ani na Clearyho, len com vyjadril nazor ze nechapem nic viac

Nechapem rozhodnutiu GM Detroitu ale snad este vytiahne tuto sezonu Tatara hore.....

Teeamu straca na Jagra 6 golov

ako tak na to pozeram tuto sezonu by mohli znenit team 4-5 slovaci. Visna, Kopecky, Gabby, Handzus a mozno Budaj, teoreticky moze Detroit pri ziskani obrancu pouzit niektoreho zo slovakov