The New York Islanders made a big splash to open the offseason, acquiring superstar defender Drew Doughty.  They were looking for a top rated defenceman to play alongside Quinn Hughes on the first pairing, a group that will be play with Connor McDavid and have the chance to light the lamp each night.

In exchange New York gave up promising youngsters Travis Sanheim, Roby Jarventie, and Ivan Prosvetov.  While Sanheim has had a solid NHL career thus far, he hasn’t found his way into the Islanders top four yet.  Adding Doughty made him expendable as the Isles look to win their first Stanley Cup.  Jarventie is a great young shooter and Prosvetov got his feet wet with a little NHL experience, but both were given a chance to move on in order to acquire one of the top defenders in the GVFHL.

Acquiring Doughty is a major piece the Islanders were looking to add this offseason.  There are still a couple moves to be made, but New York checked a big one off the list with this move.

After a quiet season for the Penguins who finished last in the GVFHL, the rewards for the season of suffering have arrived. The Penguins won the GVFHL lotto, the first lotto win in franchise history, and used the selection to take stud defenceman Owen Power. Power is a behemoth on the blueline, and looks to be a top pairing staple for the Penguins for years to come. The Penguins also traded for a pick later in the draft that became pesky forward Zachary L’Heureux.

Days later, the Penguins made another big splash, sending potential young star center Quinton Byfield to the Flames for star winger Andrei Svechnikov. While it’s tough to trade away such a promising young prospect in Byfield, Svechnikov has superstar potential talent and is already a well established top end sniper. It is also rumored that young Penguins star Kirill Kaprizov highly endorsed the trade, wishing to add another star Russian to the team.

The Penguins also made some other trades/draft picks, acquiring goalie prospect Joel Blomqvist, and drafting prospects Shai Buium, Samuel Helenuis, Filip Lindberg, William Trudeau, and Semyon Vyazovoi.

All in all, the future looks bright for the young Penguins, but expect this upcoming season to be another of pain as the Penguins young guns haven’t quite developed in to full fledged impact players just yet.