Islanders keep young defenseman in town for two more years

Rather than go long term for a player of whom they think a lot, the Islanders were able to sign restricted free-agent defenseman Ryan Pulock to a two-year bridge deal on Tuesday, the cost of which was not immediately available. Earlier this summer, Pulock was extended a qualifying offer of $874,125.

The franchise has long believed the 23-year-old Pulock was going to be a staple of its blue line for years to come. But with the franchise in flux after the departure of captain John Tavares, new team president Lou Lamoriello opted to keep his books a little more flexible rather than trying to sign Pulock to a long-term extension.

With a booming right-handed shot, Pulock led the Islanders’ defensemen this past season with 10 goals, and was second with 32 points, all in 68 games.

The team’s first-round pick (No. 15 overall) in 2013 has 84 career games of NHL experience, and the Dauphin, Manitoba, native played with Team Canada in the 2018 World Championships after the Islanders had missed the playoffs for the second straight year. As of now, he should be slotted in for a top-four role when training camp starts in September.

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The Islanders’ blue line does need some help, with veteran Johnny Boychuk coming off another down year plagued by injuries. The Islanders signed 23-year-old Devon Toews to a two-year, one-way deal on Monday after the team’s 2014 fourth-round pick missed most of this past season with a shoulder injury — a fact repeatedly cited by former general manager Garth Snow as a reason for the team’s struggles last season despite Toews having never played a game in the NHL. The club also signed defenseman Kyle Burroughs to a two-year deal after the team’s seventh-rounder from 2013 just spent his first season in the organization.

Now Lamoriello only has one more restricted free agent, and that’s mercurial center Brock Nelson. The 26-year-old filed for arbitration and has a hearing set for Aug. 3 after he was extended a qualifying offer of $3.5 million.

The Devils also did some housecleaning Tuesday, avoiding arbitration by signing RFA forwards Blake Coleman and Stefan Noesen, both of whom played big roles for the team that made the playoffs for the first time in five years this past season.

The 26-year-old Coleman, who was the Devils’ third-round pick in 2011 and just completed his first full NHL season, signed a three-year, $5.4 million deal with an annual salary-cap hit of $1.8 million. Noesen, 25, was a first-round pick of the Senators back in 2011, but was put on waivers by the Ducks and claimed by the Devils in January 2017. He signed a one-year, $1.725 million deal.