Late Wednesday night, the New York Islanders announced that they have come to terms on a three-year deal with RFA forward Brock Nelson.
The deal is worth $7.5 million, with Nelson getting $1.5 million in the first year, $2.5 million in the second and $3.5 in the third, according to Newsday’s Arthur Staple.
The pressure was theoretically on for Nelson to get a deal done, with Islanders majority owner Charles Wang placing an artificial deadline on negotiations. When he became a majority owner he instituted a policy that states that all players must be signed before the start of training camp or they don’t play at all that season. The technical deadline in place from the league is December 1.
There was concern that the deal wouldn’t get done with Nelson’s agent saying earlier this week that he hadn’t heard from the team in weeks.
#Isles agree to terms with @bnelson: http://t.co/qDVa0T2EbZ pic.twitter.com/AeXeRRXNMV
— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) September 17, 2015
Nelson finished his sophomore year posting 20 goals and 42 points in 82 games.
While this is a nice deal for both sides, it’s hard not to feel like we’ve been cheated out of a stand off where we would find out if Wang and GM Garth Snow would actually hold true to their made-up rule.
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