It's common knowledge at this point that the New York Islanders are shopping top-four defenseman Travis Hamonic. It's also fairly well-established that atop the list of Western Canada NHL teams to which Hamonic would prefer to be traded, sit the Winnipeg Jets. Unfortunately for Hamonic, reports to this point seem to indicate that the Jets aren't willing to make a deal or at least haven't yet found a fit with which they are comfortable.
Why? Well, because the Islanders and GM Garth Snow have set their sights on a player very close in on-ice impact to the big, right-handed, minutes-eating defender and have apparently targeted Jets blueliners Tyler Myers and Jacob Trouba as the return for Hamonic.
"It sounds like (the Islanders are asking for Myers or Trouba)," TSN NHL insider Darren Dreger said on Thursday night's edition of Insider Trading, via Jets Nation. "I can tell you Kevin Cheveldayoff and the Winnipeg Jets are loath to consider giving up either one of these guys.
"Particularly Jacob Trouba, but Tyler Mylers has been a big part of the Winnipeg Jets since he was acquired by the Buffalo Sabres."
As would be the case with any potential Hamonic deal, a swap for either Myers or Trouba presents a special set of issues. Myers is talented offensively and has a high upside, but Hamonic is clearly the better player. As noted by Jets Nation, Myers' contract could make him an attractive candidate for the Isles. His current cap hit of $5.5 million doesn't accurately reflect his cost going forward. In 2018 he'll make just $3.5 million in salary. By 2019, the final season of the deal, it drops to $3 million.
Myers has performed much better with the Jets, thanks to the improved quality of his teammates in Winnipeg as compared to Buffalo, but he's still got plenty of warts to his game - warts that make Hamonic much more desirable. Myers, again, has offensive skill and saw an immediate uptick in play on arriving in Winnipeg, but his scoring has dropped to a more realistic total and it seems likely that he's more a 34-point player, and less the 51-point player he looked like when he first joined the Jets.
You can go here for a side-by-side comparison of Myers and Hamonic's possession numbers. In the end, if there's a deal to be had between the Jets and Isles including Myers, it's bound to be a win overall for the Jets, even though it'll likely include at least another piece or two.
As for Trouba, it seems almost inconceivable that Cheveldayoff would even consider making that deal. Trouba is young (21) and is making just $832,500 in salary and counting $894,167 against the cap in this, the final season of his current deal. He'll be easier to control from a contractual standpoint going forward for the Jets and has, arguably, the highest ceiling of any player mentioned considering he's already been phenomenal for the Jets.
In the end, with Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien facing contract issues and Trouba needing a new deal after the season, there doesn't seem to be a simple solution for Cheveldayoff. But as Jets Nation concludes, if he can turn Myers into Hamonic, he'd be smart to do it.
