The New York Islanders have acquired defenseman Andy Greene from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for defenseman David Quenneville and a 2021 2nd round pick.
After top defenseman Adam Pelech went down with an achillies tear, the Isles mainly rotated through five defensemen with top prospect Noah Dobson gets little, but increasing ice time. This trade pushes Dobson out of the lineup, but Greene evens out the amount of righties an lefties on defense. Greene is left handed, opposed to the right handed Dobson. Unless an injury occurs, don\’t expect to see Dobson back in the lineup for the rest of the year. Dobson was playing with Scott Mayfield, who\’s normal partner Devon Toews was with Pelech\’s partner Ryan Pulock on the top pairing. There is a good chance that Greene could start with Mayfield, but when he gets comfortable, there is a good chance that Toews and Mayfield are reunited, and Pulock and Greene are the top pairing. Greene fits all the boxes for GM Lou Lamoriello. He is experienced, he has leadership experience, and he also was on the Devils when Lamoriello was there from 2006-2015. He was the Devils captain since the start of the 2015-16 season.
For the Devils, it will be hard to say goodbye to Greene, who was with the team for 14 seasons, and the captain for five of them. A second round pick is a really, really good price for him, too. They will not name a new captain. Greene had a cap hit of $5 million, but due to the fact that there are only 49 days left in the season, Greene will only carry a cap hit just over $1.3 million for the Islanders. Quenneville is a prospect who had great junior numbers but has struggled professionally.
Greene, 37, has scored two goals with nine assists for 11 points in 53 games. Even though the Devils have a -43 goal differential, Greene is one of three Devils players with double digit games played that has a positive +/- rating (+1). In his NHL career, all with the Devils, Greene has scored 49 goals with 197 assists for 246 points in 923 games.
Quenneville, 21, has one goal with five assists for six points in 18 games for the AHL\’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers. In 14 games for the ECHL\’s Worcester Railers, Quenneville has two points, both assists in 14 games. He was New York\’s 7th round, 200th overall pick in 2016.
CarterHud 