Deadline Approaches, But Islanders Captain Anders Lee Keeps Focus On Playoffs — Not Contract
With 24 games remaining, Anders Lee remains focused on securing a playoff berth as the pending UFA approaches a pivotal trade deadline.
EAST MEADOW, NY — New York Islanders captain Anders Lee is a pending unrestricted free agent in the final season of a seven-year deal worth $7 million annually.
When we spoke with Lee at the beginning of the season, he didn’t have much interest in talking about his contract status. He’s been the captain of this team since 2019 — a darn good one, too. He has laid his roots on Long Island. This is where he wants to be.
However, the decision about his future wouldn’t be up to him alone. While he did have a full no-trade clause for the first five seasons of his deal, it has since been modified to a 15-team no-trade clause.
After missing the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a group that may have been running stale, leading to a general manager change from the legendary Lou Lamoriello to first-year general manager Mathieu Darche, Lee’s future and others were up in the air, depending on the direction the former Tampa Bay Lightning assistant general manager wanted to go.
Flash-forward to now, and the Islanders are sitting in third place in the Metropolitan Division with 24 games to go. Darche has already added two players to the roster — forward Ondrej Palat and defenseman Carson Soucy — with less than a few weeks to go before the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline on March 6th (my birthday).
I spoke with Lee about his situation and the deadline.
When we spoke with Lee in Nashville, their first stop on their latest and last seven-game road trip of the season, the 35-year-old had this to say:
“It’s been a privilege and an honor to be the captain of this team and be part of some great groups. The amount of time I’ve been in this organization — in many ways, it’s everything I’ve had in the NHL. It’s very much a family to me. I’ve given everything I’ve had to wear this jersey with pride and represent what it means to be an Islander. Showing up every day, not taking anything for granted, trying to make our fans proud, my teammates proud, and doing everything I can to do things the right way.”
You can read more of that interview below:
On Friday, here is what Lee had to say:
“If you remember back in the fall, making the playoffs was our team’s goal, but a goal of mine, too — whatever we can do to put ourselves in a position where we’re adding,” Lee said. “That’s what I wanted. That’s what this group wanted. Our goals from the beginning of the year haven’t changed. Neither has the belief I have in this group, in what we can do, or where we can go. So none of that has really changed.
“My focus has continued to be to come in, be the best person I can for this group and best player I can be, and push us forward to where we all believe we should be, and that’s in a playoff position and an opportunity to go after this thing. So I’m looking forward to these final 24 and making that happen.”
While Lee’s leadership and playoff experience would have value on the open market, his teammate and fellow pending UFA forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau would have a laundry list of teams lining up for him. That was the case as last season’s deadline and prior to Darche publicly stating that No. 44 was not for sale ahead of the 2025 NHL Draft.
Pageau wins face-offs. He kills penalties and knows how to create shorthanded offensive opportunities. And he can be tasked with shutting down the opponent's best.
“He’s a utility knife,” Lee said. “He is so strong in so many facets of this game that many of those facets are imperative in playoff hockey. There are players that are built for the playoffs, and he’s one of them.”
The Islanders, who hold a four-point lead for third place in the Metropolitan Division, will play five games before the trade deadline. So, it’s not a guarantee they are in a playoff spot by 3 PM on March 6.
But that’s the plan, and that’s been the plan, Lee’s plan, from day one.
