Anders Lee

The Islanders are staring at a familiar kind of summer tension, because Anders Lee is not the sort of name other teams ignore when the market starts to heat up. His situation has enough moving parts to make rival front offices at least kick the tires, and that is usually how a quiet rumor becomes a real conversation. New York would like this to stay simple, but the league rarely gives a team that kind of courtesy when a veteran forward is in play.

The Islanders have a familiar name sitting at the center of another front-office discussion, and the key phrase here is on their terms. That usually means the negotiation comes with a hard edge, because teams rarely want to pay for sentiment when cap reality starts barking at the door. Meanwhile, Danny Nelson is making a noticeable jump at the World Championship, and that kind of development matters far more when an organization is trying to thread the needle between now and next season.