Isles, Nelson Haven't Talked in 6 Weeks

photo by Zimbio

With training camp right around the corner, everyone is excited for the season to get up and running again.  The one anxiety among Islander fans though is the uncertain fate of young forward Brock Nelson who is still unsigned.

Nelson who is a restricted free agent rejected the Islanders qualifying offer months ago and still has yet to come to an agreement with the team on a new contract.  The reason this is causing anxiety is because Islanders owner Charles Wang has a policy that if you are not signed by the start of training camp that you can't play the season for the Islanders.  This happened to Sean Bergenheim a long time ago and he ended up having to spend the season over seas.

With camp being so close, you would think the Islanders and Brock Nelsons camp would be in constant communication with each other to make sure Nelson doesn't have to sit out the season.  Well, you would be incorrect with that, according to Newsday.  Brock Nelsons agent told Newsday that they haven't spoken with the team in 6 weeks.  He said that they made Nelson a two year contract offer six weeks ago that Nelsons camp felt was unacceptable and there has been no dialogue since.

While I understand Nelsons camp case here, they don't really have much leverage.  They should take a page from Anders Lees book and take a one year deal and then look for the well paid long term deal next summer.  The strategy paid off for Lee, so it could easily pay off for his on and off again linemate as well.