Isles Trade Chad Johnson, Acquire Tyler Kennedy In 2 Deadline Deals

NBC - We’ve got our first goalie-for-goalie swap of the trade deadline — Buffalo has sent the red-hot Michal Neuvirth to the New York Islanders in exchange for backup Chad Johnson and a third-round pick in 2016. Neuvirth, 26, has played extremely well since taking over the Sabres’ No. 1 gig — following the trade ofJhonas Enroth to Dallas — posting a .938 save percentage in February. A pending UFA, he’ll now get the chance to split time with Jaroslav Halak as the Isles look to rest their No. 1 down the stretch, and potentially see some playoff action should Halak falter. Johnson, 28, has also been very good in February — posting  a.935 save percentage — and is signed for one more year at $1.3 million, giving Buffalo an affordable goaltending option for next season. That said, Johnson has struggled at times (as evident by his .889 save percentage and 3.08 GAA in ’14-15) and has never appeared in more than 27 games in a single season.

See ya, Chad Johnson. You wont be missed. Any time Johnson was between the pipes the Islanders were in trouble and everyone whos watched him and this team all year knows he just not reliable enough as this team comes down the stretch in the playoff push. His confidence was shot. His performance was dismal. He was a huge liability. Obviously you hope Halak gets hot again and carries this team to a 1 seed and through the postseason but trying to sure up some back up for him was a smart, albeit minor move from Garth Snow. Acquiring a bag of pucks for Johnson would have been a steal, let alone another starting goalie.

I’ll be perfectly honest, I dont know a goddam thing about Tyler Kennedy and I dont think any other Isles fans do either. Here is his HERO breakdown:

Tyler Kennedy HERO chart @KFCBarstool pic.twitter.com/cNgFGRS58z

— 290SportsBureau (@290SportsBureau) March 2, 2015

So, thats Kennedy! Look the Isles didnt make any major moves at the trade deadline because they’ve already made their major upgrades. Acquiring Halak last year and then Boychuk and Leddy in front of him this offseason were their big moves and obviously they worked. The Isles are right up there with the cream of the crop in this league and are gonna be a contender. I’m happy Snow didnt make any rash decisions. I’m happy he didn’t try to make a splash for the sake of making one. I think they’d be foolish to compromise any part of their bright future by going all in with a “win now” move. Not this season, at least. Not yet. Tinkering here and there and getting rid of Chad Johnson was conservative and should prove to be effective. This team has been clicking and breaking up the chemistry they developed would have been stupid. All in all, Snow and the Isles have played it smart here today. I’m just hoping in the next 30 minutes we see Boychuk has inked an extension. Thats the most important thing they can do right now.