New York Islanders Acquire Rights for Ehrhoff

The New York Islanders showed that they aren't messing around on Tuesday night.

The Islanders made the move to trade their 2012 fourth-round pick for the rights of the former Canuck defenseman Christian Ehrhoff. This gives the Islanders exclusive rights to negotiate with him up until the July 1st deadline which marks the start of the unrestricted free agency period.

Ehrhoff is one of the best blue-liners in the game. Last season he helped the Vancouver Canucks reach the Stanley Cup Finals. If the Isles are able to sign him, they will have top defenseman in Ehrhoff and Mark Streit.

The 28-year-old had a career-high 14 goals with 36 assists in 79 games last year. Ehrhoff is great on the power play, as 28 of his points came when his team was one man up. He also had two goals and 10 assists in 23 playoff games.

The Islanders will have two days to try and sign Ehrhoff. He is the best offensive defenseman in this year's free agent market and it would look great for the Islanders if a big free agent came to them. The Islanders are $27 million under the cap for 2011-12 so they will have a lot of money to spend this offseason. Some reports say that Ehrhoff will want over $5 million to sign.

It's a no-brainer that the Islanders will want to sign someone big. But with the offseason still young the question is, will this be the only big move the Isles make? We'll see what happens as more information becomes available.