Anaheim Ducks Should Gamble on a Kyle Okposo Trade

With the 2015 Stanley Cup finals all wrapped up, the hockey world is abuzz with the usual offseason chatter – trade speculation, draft preparations, and enticing hypotheticals concerning how each team should turn themselves into a championship club.

News of an elite winger potentially getting moved this summer has only added to the frenzy, as New York Islanders forward Kyle Okposo could soon be traded, according to a recent report from NHL.com.

If said report is true, the news would be surprising to those around the league. Okposo has excelled during his seven seasons in New York, proving to be a reliable scorer and a physical force. He ramped it up over the last few years thanks to some excellent chemistry with Islanders captain John Tavares, flirting with the 30-goal mark in two of the last four seasons.

He racked up 18 goals and 51 points over 60 games in 2014-15 – putting him on pace for 24 goals and 70 points when projected over an 82-game season.

There isn’t much about Okposo to dislike. He’s got great size (6’0, 216 pounds), he’s only 27 years old – just entering his prime – and his offensive skill is undeniable.

It seems the central factor motivating Islanders GM Garth Snow to consider moving the young forward is the financial aspect.

Okposo is entering the final year of his five-year, $14 million contract which will pay him a salary of $4.5 million in 2015-16 (with a cap hit of only $2.8 million). He’s sure to get a significant raise – moving him up around the $5 million-per-year mark – which could be a problem for the Islanders.

While the club is coming off of their best season in decades after rebuilding their roster at every position, that rebuild will soon lead to a bit of a financial nightmare. Okposo, Michael Grabner, and Frans Nielsen will be unrestricted free-agents after next season. Ryan Strome and Casey Cizikas will be restricted free-agents at the same time.

The Islanders also currently have free agents like Thomas Hickey, Anders Lee, and Brock Nelson – all RFA’s – to deal with this summer.

The club has $16 million to work with right now, but they’ll have to allot some money for the previously mentioned contracts and, more importantly, preserve room to re-sign Tavares, Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolay Kulemin, and Josh Bailey – each of whom have three years left on their deals.

Okposo has all the makings of a core player given his talent and dangerous chemistry with Tavares, but considering his impending raise, his durability issues (he’s missed 33 games over the last two seasons) and the fact that he’s coming off of eye surgery to repair a detached retina, the club may look to move him out for a sizeable return.

As I've said for a while, a kyle okposo trade would be incredibly smart for the #isles– his value will never be higher — garik16 (@garik16) June 22, 2015

One suitor who could benefit from the talented winger’s services is the Anaheim Ducks.

The Ducks made quite a splash in 2014-15 when they rode through the first two rounds of the 2015 playoffs looking untouchable – losing only one game before the Conference Final.

However, when matched up against the powerhouse Chicago Blackhawks, the Ducks formerly potent offense fell short.

It’s not that the Ducks couldn’t score goals. They tallied 22 total goals over the series’ seven games, which isn’t too shabby.

When it came down to those final two games – the ones that sealed the Ducks’ ticket home – their depth simply seemed inadequate when compared to Chicago’s.

Anaheim can look forward to much of the same next season as the Blackhawks, who have now won three championships in the last six years, are the favorites to come out of the West and win it all once again. Sure, Chicago will have to drop a fair amount of salary this summer due to their impending salary cap crisis, but Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman has proved he knows how to navigate the cycles with poise, so it’s unlikely Chicago heads into 2015-16 without a strong group of depth players.

With the Ducks’ two leading men – Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry – both 30 years old, the club’s championship window is closing. The duo remains one of the league’s most lethal scoring pairs, but they surely only have a few more years of being able to carry this team on their backs.

Adding Okposo to the mix would be a game-changer.

It would give the club a younger scoring option, extending the Ducks’ championship window a few more years. Okposo could take the club’s top-six to an even more lethal level. Getzlaf, Perry, and Ryan Kesler are holding it down at the moment. Patrick Maroon, Jakob Silfverberg, and Matt Beleskey are all reliable options, but they’re not elite.

Adding in Okposo would give the Ducks four players among their top-six who could single-handedly drive play forward. Okposo could slot in alongside Getzlaf and Perry, giving the veteran center two talented shooting options to work with. Such a move would push Maroon down to the second line with Kesler and Silfverberg – a formidable trio – while Beleskey could ply his trade on a beefed-up third line.

Alternatively, Okposo could pair with Kesler and either Beleskey or Silfverberg, moving the other down to the bottom-six. Regardless, the addition would strengthen the Ducks forward group as a whole by pushing talented players into lower-line roles, thus leading to stronger depth.

As they stand right now, Anaheim seems to be just shy of what they need to top the Blackhawks. However, with Getzlaf, Perry, Kesler, and Okposo, they could arguably go toe to toe with Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, and Patrick Sharp (assuming Sharp keeps his roster spot).

In terms of whether or not a deal could realistically get done, it seems Anaheim does have options. They’ll have around $19 million in cap space, meaning they could afford Okposo next season as well as beyond, even at an increased rate.

The Ducks have plenty of pieces to send the other way in a potential deal as well.

New York won’t give Okposo up for nothing, but they’ll also settle for less than a lights-out return, considering the winger is a UFA next summer. One of Anaheim’s numerous young talented defencemen could be an option. Hampus Lindholm and Cam Fowler aren’t going anywhere, but Simon Despres or Sami Vatanen – both of whom are talented and full of untapped potential – could both be in play.

Anaheim also has a few pieces to potentially bolster the Islanders’ forward depth. Maroon or Beleskey could be options (if the latter is re-signed), though the Ducks have some names in the lower sections of their depth chart that could find themselves involved as well.

The haul that Snow is reportedly most keen on is a first-round selection in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, as the Islanders currently hold no picks higher than 72nd-overall (in the third round). Anaheim isn’t particularly loaded in this area, as they hold only one first-rounder (27th-overall) and zero second-rounders.

A player of Okposo’s caliber would certainly be worth giving up a first-round pick for, but the lack of certainty due to his impending UFA status could complicate things.

It would be a gamble, but considering how close the Ducks were in 2015, it seems rolling the dice and acquiring Okposo – even if it means parting with a first-round pick in a class as deep as this (though the pick is quite late) – would be a wise decision. Even if he plays only one season in Anaheim before bolting in free-agency, Okposo could give the Ducks enough firepower in that one season to seriously challenge for a championship.