Islanders aren’t in rush for serious contract talks with top-line star

Call the Islanders’ top line The Money Line. Or, really, the Money to Be Made Line.

Anders Lee, Brock Nelson and Jordan Eberle are all set to be unrestricted free agents on July 1, assuming team president Lou Lamoriello doesn’t get any deals done before then. And though Lamoriello was effusive in his praise of the trio after nobody was moved as a rental property before the Feb. 25 trade deadline — “This is certainly an indication of what we think of them and what we think of our own team,” Lamoriello said — the sage general manager is keeping his options open.

Which is why there haven’t been substantial negotiations with Nelson’s camp, The Post has learned. The 27-year-old just reached the 20-goal plateau for the fourth time in his career, and the one-year, $4.25 million deal he is playing on seems to have him thoroughly engaged. That, and coach Barry Trotz giving him the opportunity to play top minutes with such talented linemates.

“Didn’t really know what to expect in the summer,” Nelson told The Post on Friday, with his first-place team getting Saturday off before a Coliseum matinee on Sunday against the Flyers.

“Obviously getting a one-year [deal], coming back with a new mindset, kind of a new focus and a new opportunity. It’s been a bit of a different situation, more opportunity to go out there and take a bigger role and see where it went. So far, things have been great. Everything from Lou to Barry and the team, everything has been great.”

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The question that Lamoriello will have to answer is how much does he think Nelson is worth. Maybe Nelson’s ask will start somewhere in the neighborhood of Adam Henrique’s five-year, $29.125 million deal ($5.825 million per) the former Devil signed this past summer with the Ducks. The term on teammate Josh Bailey’s six-year, $30 million deal that began this season is far too long for Lamoriello, but the $5 million annual salary-cap hit on a two- or three-year deal would be easier to swallow.

“There hasn’t really been any talks or any indication one way or the other,” Nelson said. “That’s a good thing for all parties, take it day-by-day. Everybody wants to win and we’re in a good spot to do that right now.”

All the winning has surely made this whole situation easier on these players with uncertain futures. Lee was handed the captaincy in the wake of John Tavares’ free-agent departure to Toronto, and Lamoriello wouldn’t have done that unless he was confident with being able to get a long-term deal done. Eberle is a curious case, as he likely would have drawn quite a bit of interest as a rental. But he will now finish up his six-year, $36 million deal and could hit the market as a 29-year-old with a deft scoring touch.

Lamoriello has never been one to tip his hand — heck, he doesn’t like anyone to know he’s even sitting at the table — so it’s only business as usual by not making a deal before he has to. One of his tenets has always been to use the time you have, so why not go into the June draft and see what’s out there — say, like gauging if the affection for Blue Jackets winger Artemi Panarin is mutual, then trying to figure out how to get the pending free agent to Long Island.

For all the success the Islanders have had this season, the plan is still focused on the future. They don’t currently have the depth from top to bottom — specially at the top — like the Capitals, who are playing in the Garden a few hours earlier on Sunday afternoon and might be able to draw ahead in points for a while, with the Isles still holding a game in hand.

So there are important decisions for Lamoriello to make in figuring out how to become a perennial contender, and three of those decisions are currently playing on his top line.

“I don’t think anybody is really focused on the outside and the contract negotiations,” Nelson said. “I think that’s the best part, that we’re all just playing and there hasn’t been much worry or talk about that. We just go about our business.”
Same for Lamoriello.