{"id":508007,"date":"2026-03-06T21:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T21:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/508007\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T21:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T21:49:08","slug":"new-york-islanders-to-acquire-brayden-schenn-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/508007\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Islanders To Acquire Brayden Schenn \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Islanders are finalizing a trade to acquire veteran center Brayden Schenn<\/a> from the St. Louis Blues, reports Sportsnet\u2019s Elliotte Friedman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Islanders have confirmed<\/a> the deal. The Athletic\u2019s Pierre LeBrun has reported its full terms:<\/a> the Islanders are getting Schenn for a first-round pick, third-round pick, veteran forward Jonathan Drouin<\/a>, and goalie prospect Marcus Gidlof<\/a>. Per Andy Strickland of FanDuel Sports Network<\/a>, the first-rounder going to St. Louis is Colorado\u2019s 2026 first-round pick, the one New York acquired in the Brock Nelson trade from last season.<\/p>\n

Per Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News<\/a>, the Islanders were on Schenn\u2019s 16-team no-trade list, but Schenn has decided to allow the trade to go ahead. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Schenn, the Blues captain, has been at the center of significant trade rumors over the last few months. His inclusion in a trade today, assuming it is completed and confirmed, is part of a wider effort by the Blues to re-organize their competitive efforts in a more future-oriented direction.<\/p>\n

While the 34-year-old is under contract for an additional two seasons at a $6.5MM cap hit, the Blues may not believe they are in a position to legitimately compete for a Stanley Cup within that time frame. As a result, they appear to have given Schenn the chance to chase the second Stanley Cup championship of his career on Long Island.<\/p>\n

The Islanders sit third place in the Metropolitan Division and have one of the game\u2019s most promising young players leading their resurgence: 2025 No. 1 pick Matthew Schaefer<\/a>. Today\u2019s move confirms the Islanders\u2019 seriousness about competing for a Stanley Cup in the immediate term, even while the future face of their franchise is still just 18 years old.<\/p>\n

The addition of Schenn provides a jolt to New York\u2019s depth at the all-too-important center position. The club has most recently been utilizing 21-year-old Cal Ritchie as its second-line center. While the 2023 first-rounder is a promising young player, he\u2019s not an ideal fit for that role on a team that is looking to make a deep playoff run.<\/p>\n

Schenn, on the other hand, is an almost perfect fit for that role. While his numbers are down somewhat this year (28 points in 61 games as the Blues have struggled overall) he did manage 50 points last season and has been a steady top-six forward for much of his career. With Schenn likely to be plugged in directly to the Islanders\u2019 second line, the team instantly becomes one of the league\u2019s deepest teams down the middle.<\/p>\n

With Bo Horvat<\/a> manning the first line, Schenn on the second, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau<\/a> and Casey Cizikas<\/a> in the bottom-six, the Islanders not only have a strong group of four centers, they also have the flexibility to keep Mathew Barzal<\/a> on the wing, where he has excelled.<\/p>\n

While the Islanders are without question strengthened by this trade, the deal is not without some risk. Schenn turns 35 in August, and has two more years remaining on his deal. He hasn\u2019t quite played up to the standard of a top-six center in St. Louis this season, but it\u2019s still to be determined whether that says more about where Schenn\u2019s game is at, or about the state of the Blues as a whole. In any case, if Schenn experiences age-related decline that impacts his playing abilities, the Islanders will have paid a hefty price for a player who isn\u2019t what he once was.<\/p>\n

With that said, there is also the possibility that the trade rejuvenates Schenn, and the chance to play for a playoff contender gives him something of a second wind. We\u2019ve seen numerous veterans remain capable contributors as they progress deeper into their thirties, capably adjusting how they play to fit how they age. It\u2019s also entirely possible Schenn goes down that path, making it so the Islanders have added a second-line center with more than two years of team control. Putting it that way, a first-rounder, third-rounder, and a prospect is hardly an unfair price to pay.<\/p>\n

From the Blues\u2019 perspective, the move falls in line with what has become their hockey operations department\u2019s modus operandi: preparing for the future. With Alexander Steen set to assume lead decision-making authority, today\u2019s trade adds at least one premium future asset to an already growing stockpile.<\/p>\n

While they\u2019ll surely miss Schenn both on\u00a0and off the ice, the move clears the way for 2023 No. 10 pick Dalibor Dvorsky<\/a> to receive even greater on-ice opportunity. If this trade can spark additional growth from Dvorsky, while also adding key draft picks and prospects to the Blues\u2019 system, they\u2019re likely to count it as a win.<\/p>\n

The addition of Drouin may have been made to help balance the money being taken on by the Islanders, but there is some rationale behind his addition from the Blues\u2019 side. Set to turn 31 this month, the odds are against him playing a role on the next contending Blues team. But with St. Louis likely to strip away further veteran talents this summer, there is the chance Drouin receives an opportunity to play regularly in the top-six in Missouri. He\u2019s a player who never quite fit on Long Island, but excelled playing alongside Nathan MacKinnon<\/a> as a member of the Colorado Avalanche. Perhaps he finds similar chemistry with Blues star Robert Thomas<\/a> down the stretch.<\/p>\n

With another year left on his deal at a $4MM cap hit, it\u2019s not totally out of the question that Drouin seizes the opportunity ahead of him with the Blues, and becomes a trade chip for next year\u2019s trade season, which would mean Schenn\u2019s trade could deliver further future value to St. Louis.<\/p>\n

Also included in this deal is Gidlof, a big goalie prospect who was a 2024 fifth-round pick. He\u2019s been a tandem goalie in the SHL over the last two years, playing in a total of 41 games for Leksands IF. This season, he has gone 9-15-0 with an .896 save percentage. A little over a year ago, Gidlof was considered one of New York\u2019s better prospects. The Athletic\u2019s Scott Wheeler ranked him<\/a> the No. 3 prospect in the team\u2019s system, writing that he \u201chas legitimate NHL upside.\u201d<\/p>\n

With starter Jordan Binnington<\/a>\u2018s time in St. Louis potentially set to come to an end at some point over the summer, the inclusion of Gidlof in this deal represents further investment by the team in the future of the goalie position, a position in which the Blues have a somewhat uncertain future.<\/p>\n

Photos courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Islanders are finalizing a trade to acquire veteran center Brayden Schenn from the St. Louis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[27480,394,10669,385,99,1610],"class_list":["post-508007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-brayden-schenn","tag-new-york-islanders","tag-newsstand","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-st-louis-blues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}