By Sean Gentille, Shayna Goldman and Dom Luszczyszyn
The Athletic has live coverage of the 2025 NHL trade deadline.
The trade
Avalanche get: F Brock Nelson (50 percent of salary retained), F William Dufour
Islanders get: First-round pick in 2026 or 2027, conditional third-round pick in 2028, F Calum Ritchie, D Oliver Kylington (then traded to Anaheim Ducks for future considerations)
Sean Gentille: Every trade deadline has its belle of the ball. It’s simple economics: good players tend to be in short supply, and the appetite to talk trades — real ones, hypothetical ones, smart ones, dumb ones — is endless. We’ve all got jobs to do.
A byproduct of all that is that bad players tend to become useful ones, useful ones tend to become good ones, good ones tend to become great ones and great ones tend to become Mario Lemieux. Attention too often leads to hyperbole. In Nelson’s case, though, I think the way he’s been discussed generally lines up with what he brings to a roster. He’s really, really good. Colorado treated him as such, and sent a package to the Islanders befitting his skill set.
For years on Long Island, he produced offense like a legit first-liner, showing a well-rounded game as a scorer and playmaker that helped the Islanders often punch above their weight class. A decent chunk of their model was predicated on him. Without his brand of sturdy, versatile, productive hockey … what would they have been, exactly? How would we have treated them? Would they have been worthy of attention? Be honest. I lean toward “no.” Heavily.
In Colorado, he’s a second-line center. There’s no shame in that, given the presence of Nathan MacKinnon. There’s some irony at play; Colorado has spent nearly three years trying to replace Nazem Kadri. To varying degrees, they’ve failed. Now, they’ve got one of the best 2Cs in the business. Their time is now. They know it, and they act the part.
What makes this deal fascinating, though, is that the Isles — key as Nelson was, good as he remains and perfectly as he fits with the Avs — might be your winners. First-round picks are nice. High-end prospects such as Calum Ritchie are nicer; he’s a big (6-foot-2, 190 pounds), skilled, smart center who’s on pace for his second straight 80-point season in the OHL. That should sound familiar to Isles fans. Losing a stalwart in Nelson stings a little less when he helps you reel in a 20-year-old who’s legitimately capable of filling his shoes.
Avalanche grade: A
Islanders grade: A+
Shayna Goldman: As busy as the Avalanche have been on the trade market, this team was still missing one key element: a legitimate 2C.
Casey Mittelstadt, last year’s deadline addition, fit perfectly last spring. But he hasn’t built on that momentum at all this season. His play at five-on-five has completely trailed off, leaving a clear hole that the team had to address. Considering how much the Avalanche have invested in this season with all of their dealings, management had to upgrade the position to give this team its best shot of contending.
Enter Nelson, the best center on the market. He is an elite second-line center whose effectiveness sometimes goes under the radar. Nelson’s all-situation scoring rate has dipped this season, but that is likely a consequence of the Islanders’ disastrous power play.
At five-on-five, he is still thriving on both ends of the ice. Nelson is a reliable goal-scorer and his play-making is top-notch. What separates him from Mittelstadt is his reliability in his own zone. Nelson can handle difficult minutes and help his team transition from defense to offense with his puck retrievals and breakouts. Alongside some combination of Valeri Nichushkin, Artturi Lehkonen and Jonathan Drouin, the Avs’ new-look second line should be a pain to play against.
The price of acquisition was high for a rental, but that tends to be the nature of the business at this time of year for centers, especially when salary retention is involved. And Nelson is absolutely worth it. He solidifies the Avalanche to compete with the best in the West. That is really all that matters for Colorado right now — not the uncertainty of what a draft pick or prospect might become.
As much as Nelson meant to the Islanders, management actually did what needed to be done. The Islanders tried to battle it out in the playoff race, but injuries crushed their chances.
Standing pat at the deadline would have been the worst-case scenario for the Islanders because it wouldn’t help them thread the needle in either direction. Sometimes teams prioritize a low-risk strategy that ultimately burns them. Playing it safe can be death if it leads to a fate in the mushy middle, and the Islanders have taken up residence there for far too long. This team needs to step back and start retooling for next season. Unlike some teams at the end of their contention cycle, the Islanders had an ace in Nelson to move in order to kickstart the process.
The Islanders have decimated their pipeline over the years in order to compete, and now their prospect pool ranks 25th in the league. Getting a first-rounder and Colorado’s top prospect, Ritchie, is a really strong first step in a necessary retool.
Avalanche grade: A
Islanders grade: A
Dom Luszczyszyn: When it comes to trading away a franchise favorite, it’s important to do right by him and get full value. The Islanders did both here, sending Nelson to a true Stanley Cup contender to chase a ring while getting an absolute haul for his services.
In a different season, with better injury luck, it probably wouldn’t have come to this. It would’ve been Nelson leading a playoff push as the Islanders did that thing they always do: grit and grind their way to a wild-card spot and then hope some magic happens. Unfortunately, the injuries they dealt with this season proved too much — kudos to them for recognizing that. The Islanders shifted gears and took advantage of a seller’s market by not only landing a first-round pick for Nelson but also Ritchie. That’s a massive haul.
I’m not going to pretend to know anything about Ritchie’s game, but Scott Wheeler’s glowing review of him from last January should be enough to get Islanders fans extremely excited. It’s not often a top-25 prospect gets traded (with a first-rounder!) and that obviously makes this a big win for the Islanders. It’s the exact type of re-tooling trade this franchise needed.
As for the Avalanche, they got their guy in Nelson. Everyone and their grandmother knew they needed a legit 2C, especially with Mittelstadt failing to seize that opportunity. Nelson’s impact has flown a bit under the radar on Long Island, but he creates chances to an elite degree and can put the puck in the net. He’s a responsible two-way player who does a lot of little things well and is especially adept at retrieving pucks and breaking it out. Don’t be fooled by his lower point totals this year, either — at five-on-five, his 2.29 points-per-60 is on par with where he’s been in each of his previous three seasons. Since 2021, Nelson’s 2.35 points-per-60 ranks 27th in the league, between Nico Hischier and Jack Eichel. He’s the kind of high-end 2C contenders need to go deep.
The price may have been steep for Colorado, but this is still a big-time get for the Avalanche, one that seriously moves the needle. We haven’t run the numbers yet on how this impacts their Cup chances, but on paper, this move brings the team right in line with the rest of a very tight contending class.
Whether Colorado could contend this season was slightly in question, given the strength of the rest of the West and the team’s weaknesses down the middle. With Nelson on the roster, there are no more questions. He’s a difference-maker, one whose addition positions the Avalanche well for a deep run.
Avalanche grade: A
Islanders grade: A+
(Photo of Brock Nelson: Thomas Salus / Imagn Images)
