Roloson Shipped to Tampa

			2010/2011 NHL Statistics
To Tampa Bay	Position	Age	MIN	W	SO	P	Years	Cap Hit
Dwayne Roloson	Goalie	41	1,206	6	0	12	1	$2.5 million
--------------------
To Long Island	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Ty Wishart	Defense	22	0	0	0	0	1	$1.1 million

You don't usually see a trade drop in the middle of a Saturday night, but the Islanders continue to sell off their veteran assets, as Dwayne Roloson has now been sent to Tampa Bay for prospect defenseman Ty Wishart.

The reports out of Long Island suggesting that Roloson was not happy with the Islanders makes this deal seem a little more understandable, but leaving the team in the oft-injured hands of Rick DiPietro has to makes some fans awfully weary of where this team is heading, especially after trading their top defenseman (this season, with Streit hurt) earlier in the week.

Roloson is in the final year of his current contract and likely the final year of his career, so there is a good chance that he'll be getting a better opportunity to win with a much better team in front of him.  Even at 41 years old, Roloson still has a high level of compete in his game, which is definitely his biggest attribute to his game and is the kind of element the Lightning goaltenders have been lacking for the most part, so this could be a great fit.

The biggest question coming out of this week has to be, 'are the Islanders above the salary cap floor?' It really doesn't seem to be the case after dealing both Wisniewski and Roloson, despite having some big buyouts, a couple decent looking entry-level deals and a full roster every night. Annually speaking, it looks like they have plenty of work to do otherwise. It almost begs speculation as to whether or not they will help another team with some big cap hits, which will work with their own team-governed budget.

As for the hockey pools, no one drafted Roloson and no one was going to pick him in the selection sheet, so this trade is pretty much useless in the standing of either side... for now.  He could be a decent pick-up in the second waiver draft, if he gets handed a lot of minutes with the Lightning.