Lou Lamoriello has been quiet since the hubbub of July 1, when he re-upped Anders Lee, brought in Semyon Varlamov and took a big swing at landing Artemi Panarin. Quiet is Lamoriello’s default operating mode, so the last 15 days of relative silence doesn’t mean there isn’t anything going on at Islanders HQ.



According to a few league sources, the major stalemate around the league — there are still a handful of usable free agents on the market — is all those unsigned RFAs. Without knowing how much Mitch Marner will cost the Leafs or Brayden Point the Lightning or Kyle Connor and Patrik Laine the Jets, those teams and their potential trading partners are at a standstill. That spills over to the few veterans still on the market, as well, since interested teams might choose to swap one for a younger, more cost-controlled player at the same position from one of those above-mentioned teams that could be adding a major RFA contract soon.



In any...