The Islanders made Justin Papineau, a restricted free agent, the first signing of the summer yesterday when they inked the promising young forward to a one-year deal.

The Isles still have to re-sign valuable Group II restricted free agents Rick DiPietro, Mark Parrish and Roman Hamrlik. In addition, Adrian Aucoin, Oleg Kvasha, Janne Niinimaa, Jason Blake and Dave Scatchard filed for arbitration last week and will have their hearings in August to determine new wages.

Papineau, 24, was obtained in the Chris Osgood trade two years ago and is coming off his first full season with the Isles. Pressed into regular duty during the winter months while Alexei Yashin (wrist) and Parrish (ankle) were out with injuries, the speedy playmaker appeared in a total of 64 games and scored eight goals and 13 points.