The Islanders went into the trade deadline with two older than 30 assets on expiring contracts who could have gotten a strong return while enabling the club to start to look toward its future.

Not this trade deadline, with Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri. The 2023 trade deadline, with Scott Mayfield and Semyon Varlamov.

Of course, by the time March 3 came around two years ago, the die had already been cast, with the Islanders having acquired Bo Horvat and Pierre Engvall in the run-up to deadline day while priming for what was ultimately a successful playoff push that ended in a first-round exit.

Though that instance of doubling down on the core cost the Islanders some picks or prospects, it was the next hinge point, on July 1 of the same year, which in hindsight looks like a disastrous error.