Islanders send No. 13 pick to Canadiens for Alexander Romanov, third-rounder

MONTREAL — The Islanders were in desperate need of a left-handed, puck-moving defenseman.

And so at Thursday’s NHL draft, instead of using the 13th overall pick, Lou Lamoriello went and got one.

The Islanders set up what they hope will be their long-term future on the back end, sending the 13th pick to the Canadiens for Alexander Romanov and the 98th pick, which begins the fourth round. Montreal quickly turned around and traded that pick in a deal for Chicago center Kirby Dach. The Blackhawks, eventually, drafted center Frank Nazar 13th.

“We had an opportunity to get a 22-year-old, top-four defenseman,” Lamoriello said. “And tremendous character. Tremendous competitiveness in him. So we felt it was the right thing and we were looking at a defenseman. We felt that in the draft, the ones we were looking at would be gone. And it was really not a tough decision.”

Lamoriello referenced Romanov’s competitiveness multiple times, saying his game leans more towards the defensive side, but pointing out that he put up points in juniors. Adding a 22-year-old with an established NHL pedigree and room to get better, he said, made moving the first-round pick that much easier.

Alexander Romanov USA TODAY Sports

“We played against him enough to feel that way and recognize what he brought,” Lamoriello said. “He’s growing. He’s got a lot to grow. He’s got a lot in him, potentially, to get better.”

Though Romanov, a native of Russia, was in the country last week, Montreal GM Kent Hughes told reporters earlier in the week that he was expected back in North America in short order.

Romanov slots in next to Noah Dobson on the team’s depth chart and locks in a second pairing behind Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech.

Before they start dreaming of that, however, there is a bit of business for Lamoriello to conduct with both Romanov and Dobson. Romanov is a 10.2(c) restricted free agent, meaning he is not open to an offer sheet but is out of contract. Dobson is a restricted free agent and will be open to offer sheets if unsigned by July 13. Lamoriello was mum on the timeline for getting Romanov’s deal done, saying only, “whenever we can get it done, we’ll get it done.”

Romanov, the 38th pick in the 2018 draft, comes to the Island after two full seasons with the Canadiens. Though he had just 13 points last season, with three goals and 10 assists, Romanov is considered a strong skater, and can get the puck up the ice — an area in which the Islanders were sorely lacking from their defensemen in 2021-22.

After Lamoriello had to trade Devon Toews and Nick Leddy for salary cap reasons following the team’s playoff runs in 2020 and 2021, respectively, he’ll hope that Romanov can be a successor to the kind of game each of those players brought to the Isles, perhaps with more defensive ability.

Romanov played on the penalty kill with the Canadiens last season notching over 200 minutes down a man, and could do the same with the Isles, who are likely losing Zdeno Chara from their PK.

With that most pressing item off his to-do list, the next big piece of business for Lamoriello could be finding a scoring winger to play alongside Mathew Barzal. Without Jordan Eberle last season, who was lost to the Kraken in the expansion draft, the Islanders struggled to find the right line combinations to unlock the uber-talented center.

That seems a logical place to spend whatever cap space remains after the team locks up Dobson and Romanov, though getting a true difference-maker could also require moving some dollars off their books.

With Andy Greene and Sebastian Aho also hitting free agency in addition to Chara, the Islanders will need to revamp their third pairing as well. Now that they have a top-four intact, though, it seems likely that prospect Robin Salo will be penciled in on the left side there.

“We’re more concerned with what the six looks like,” Lamoriello said, “rather than what the one looks like.”