Islanders News: No waiving, lots of Weight-ing

Yesterday was the deadline for asking players to waive their no-trade clauses for the purposes of being exposed in the expansion draft. (The theory here being that maybe a player with a hefty contract — which, hopefully, Vegas wouldn’t want — would waive his NTC so that the team could protect other more desirable/cheaper players.

But that’s a big ask, kind of a “Will you give up your home insurance so that we can make sure the neighbors you like stay in the neighborhood? We promise to hope your house doesn’t burn down.”

As you might recall if you saw our expansion draft primer, technically we may not know of any requests until Friday, the last day for players who are asked to say no or “sure, go ahead and risk it.” But we know several teams did not.

Islanders News

• The Islanders, for example, did not ask Andrew Ladd nor Johnny Boychuk to waive their NTCs, according to Newsday’s Arthur Staple. [@StapeNewsday]
• If you didn’t see this late yesterday, grab a cup of coffee and hear Doug Weight, who loves to talk, speak about Jack Capuano, his assistants, and signing John Tavares. [NHL]
• Remembering a different team that won back-to-back Stanley Cups -- three times, actually -- and the debt and ownership concerns that already hung over the team. [LHH]
• Who should the Islanders protect in the expansion draft? Dan spoke about it with this guy over here. [YouTube]
• Vote for the Islanders’ hits of the year. [Islanders]

Other News

• The Blue Jackets did not ask Scott Hartnell to waive his NTC, the Panthers didn’t ask Keith Yandle to waive his NTC, and the Smurfs did not ask Marc Staal or Dan Girardi to waive theirs.
• But the Penguins asked Marc-Andre Fleury to. Back in February. [Pensburgh | Puck Daddy]
• And the Senators asked Dion Phaneuf to waive his. [Sportsnet]
• Restored Panthers GM Dale Tallon gives his team owner credit for realizing he screwed up. [Sportsnet]
• This year’s best and worst playoff beards. [Puck Daddy]
• Down Goes Brown mulls whether the Blackhawks or Penguins are better from their three-Cup eras. [Sportsnet]
• So yada yada yada “can the Penguins three-peat?” [NHL] Vegas says yes. [SB Nation]
• Maybe that’s because they still have two absolute world-class centers. [Ringer] And they know how to celebrate in the locker room. [Post-Gazette]
• You may have heard Adidas is taking over NHL uniforms next year, including changes to some teams (not the Islanders, worry not). This post has good details. [Broad Street Hockey]

In case you were wondering, here’s the voting breakdown for the Conn Smythe, including the rare (unprecedented?) vote for Erik Karlsson despite his team bowing out in the conference final: