Hey, have you heard the latest?
Among a myriad of NHL suitors who have trade interest in Vancouver Canucks’ pending unrestricted free agent winger Kiefer Sherwood — the list has grown to eight and that might be conservative — it now includes the New York Islanders.
Veteran winger Kyle Palmieiri, 34, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament to his left knee Friday in an awkward collision with Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Jamie Drysdale. He’s sidelined six to eight months, and with the Islanders in a traffic jam of nine teams separated by five points in contention for two Eastern Conference wild-card spots, they can’t sit idle.
Palmieri was their durable top-six lineup staple, who logged 223 consecutive games, and contributed six goals and 18 points this season.
Sherwood, 30, would be a big upgrade because of goal production, grit, and making the opposition uncomfortable. He leads the Canucks with 12 goals, is on pace for 37, and ranks second among league forwards with 106 hits following a 2-1 overtime loss in Los Angeles on Saturday. He had three shots, six attempts, and three big hits.
Who wouldn’t want that package? Islanders coach Patrick Roy probably would.
Kiefer Sherwood led NHL last season with record 464 hits and had career-high 19 goals. He tops trade talk.
There’s more to Sherwood that just scoring and hitting. He has become a culture carrier and his pre-season prediction of what he hoped would evolve from a team perspective before a plethora of injuries spoke to his team-first focus.
“I love it here, my teammates and the market,” he told this reporter. “I think we can build something special and kind of shock people this year. We have a lot of stuff that’s quietly brewing with positivity in our identity as a team.
“There’s a fresh energy for us to take that next step. When you watch your competitors on TV in the playoffs, it kind of eats at you and (ticks) you off a little bit. That’s something we’re not going to let happen again.”
You have to love the confidence, but now comes reality.
The Canucks have sticker shock because Sherwood could triple his expiring US$1.5 million salary cap hit if he goes to free agency. Management is wary of his production regression, but buoyed by the possibility of Sherwood returning a first-round pick, and possibly more, because there could be a bidding war.
Sherwood is playing a better and more complete game because his confidence is high, penalties are down, and improved fitness and skating have allowed him to showcase an underrated shot and monster 24 per cent shooting accuracy.
The Islanders have a veteran-laden team in go-for-it mode. With 14 players at least 30 years of age, they’re constructed to get to the post-season and advance further than one round. They’ve missed the playoffs two of the last four seasons, and were twice taken out by the Carolina Hurricanes in opening rounds.
The Islanders have amassed a 13-9-3 mark, including a 6-3-1 run, by doing it with defence because they can’t score.
They’re 10th on the penalty kill at 82.4 per cent, and 11th in fewest goals allowed per game at 2.80. However, they have the 21st-ranked offence at 2.96 goals per outing and last-place power play at 13.1 per cent.
Former Canucks centre Bo Horvat leads the Islanders with 14 goals and 25 assists and Sherwood patrolling his right flank would bring more scoring and much more push. However, the Islanders are expected to give Maxim Shabanov that look, at least for now, and see how it plays out.
The 25-year-old Russian had 67 points (23-44) in 65 KHL games with his hometown Chelyabinsk Traktor last season and the Islanders took a one-year, $975,000 roll of the dice on the 5-foot-8 forward who has seven points (3-4) in 13 games.
Like any team, the Islanders may not want to mortgage the future in pursuit of Sherwood. But they would have to surrender at least a first-round pick to add an impactful player. And somebody may offer more for Sherwood because that roulette wheel will just keep spinning until it finally stops.
bkuzma@postmedia.com