Islanders, Nelson Agree To 3-Year Contract

It finally ended Wednesday night.

According to Newsday’s Arthur Staple, Nelson’s deal is three years and worth $7.5 million. Players reported for physicals Thursday morning and will have their first training camp session on Friday. The first on-ice session is scheduled for 9:10 a.m. Friday. Its surprising then, that Nelson, a restricted free agent, still does not have a contract on the eve of New York’s training camp and at the doorstep of the 2015-16 NHL season. The 23-year-old Nelson, drafted by the Isles with the 30th overall pick back in 2010, scored 20 goals and 42 points in 82 games last season. On top of that, he scoffed at the Isles’ qualifying offer for quite some time.

There was concern that the deal wouldn’t get done with Nelson’s agent saying earlier this week that he hadn’t heard from the team in weeks. Garth [Snow, the Islanders’ general manager] and I talked six weeks ago after they made an offer, which was nowhere near commensurate with what players like Brock are making.

There’s a hard deadline coming in barely more than 48 hours for Nelson.

The Islanders reportedly tried to lock up center Brock Nelson this offseason.

The Islanders will have several other decisions to make on the contract front this season, assuming all the key players in the last year of their deals are not re-signed or traded.

As a restricted free agent, Nelson would still be eligible to sign an offer sheet from another team if they were interested in pursuing him (and given his age, production and talent, plenty of teams should have interest).

One thing that isn’t ideal about Nelson’s contract is that it will expire the same year John Tavares’ current contract is fulfilled.