Brock Nelson’s 12-year run with the New York Islanders has come to an end — the veteran center has been traded to the Colorado Avalanche along with William Dufour for prospect and center Calum Ritchie, defenseman Oliver Kylington, a first-round pick in either 2026 or 2027, and a conditional third-round pick.
Kylington was immediately flipped to the Anaheim Ducks for future considerations.
The Islanders receive the third-rounder if the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup this season and Nelson plays in at least 50% of their games.
Nelson, 33, becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and after turning down a reported three-year contract extension, was dealt to a Stanley Cup contender in the Avalanche.
It is the first big movie to trade away a long-time core piece of the club made by general manager Lou Lamoriello, which ushers in significant change for a roster that has lacked that for the better part of seven years. But with the Islanders’ championship window having been officially shut for the last three seasons following back-to-back semifinal runs, such a move has become a necessity.
Nelson ends his Islanders career as one of the best forwards of the last 35 years. He is one of just five players in franchise history with 900 games played, passing the legendary Bobby Nystrom on Tuesday night for fourth all-time (901). He ranks fifth in team history with 294 goals and his 572 points rank eighth.
In return, the Islanders get a 20-year-old up-and-comer in Ritchie, who was the 27th-overall pick of the 2023 draft. A 6-foot-2 two-way center, his game is predicated on a high hockey IQ that makes him one of the elite playmakers among the NHL’s crop of young prospects — a vital get for a team whose prospect pool is remarkably thin.
Colorado’s first-rounder will also help improve the pipeline, which had not received an abundance of help from the draft in recent years. New York has used just one first-round draft pick in the last five years, which came last season with the selection of highly-touted Boston University forward Cole Eiserman.
