Islanders Trade Sutton to Senators

The Islanders have traded their biggest and most physical defenseman, Andy Sutton, to the Ottawa Senators for the second round pick that Ottawa acquired in the Dany Heatley deal with San Jose in September.

Sutton, standing at 6'6" 245 lbs, was the Isles most physical defenseman and the man that gave up his body the most to block shots. He is the only player in the league with more than 150 hits and 150 blocked shots this season, so needless to say the Islanders will miss his his size and supreme shot blocking ability.

Sutton was signed by the Islanders on August 10, 2007 as a free agent and has played on Long Island over the past three seasons.  Over the course, Sutton has played in 135 games for the Islanders, scoring seven goals and 23 assists.  This year, Sutton totaled four goals and eight assists for 12 points in 54 games with the Islanders, while having one of his best seasons defensively.

"(Islanders GM Garth Snow) knew what he could get elsewhere and he was certainly fielding questions from other general managers," said Senators GM Bryan Murray. "At the end of the day he came back and we talked and I guess I owe him something or vice versa, but we were able to make the deal."

Yeah, Bryan Murray for sure owed Garth Snow something. He owed him sweet revenge for ripping him off on the Chris Campoli deal from last year, where Snow finagled a first round pick out of Ottawa. 

Well this time the joke is on you Garth, buddy! Way to blow this trade.

Snow basically received a third round pick for Sutton because San Jose has one of the best records in the league. I don't believe that he didn't have any better offers for Sutton.

I will say that a second round pick is good value for Sutton, but not the pick that the Isles got. Garth Snow got fleeced on this deal and Bryan Murray is now the one laughing, as opposed to Snow last February after the Campoli deal.

I, along with several other Islanders fans, are none too happy about the value Snow got from this trade.

And this trade looks worse now that Andy MacDonald is out four to six weeks, just about the rest of the season, with a broken foot that he sustained while blocking a shot in Tuesday night's 5-3 win over the Blackhawks. Now the Isles have called up the newly acquired Dylan Reese to take MacDonald's spot. Reese, incase you were wondering, is 6'1". Not exactly a bruiser out there.