Andrew Ladd
Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports

The Islanders got Andrew Ladd off the books — but at a significant cost. 

On Friday, the New York Islanders were able to get an ugly contract off their books.

Andrew Ladd, who is 35 and has two years remaining on a contract with a $5.5 million cap hit, has played four NHL games since the 2018-19 season. His contract was the definition of dead weight on the Islanders’ payroll.

Friday, the Islanders were able to send that dead weight to Arizona. The Isles sent Ladd’s contract to the Coyotes for essentially nothing (“future considerations”).

But it cost the Isles dearly.

The Islanders also sent a second-round pick in 2021 (No. 60 overall — originally from Colorado), a second-round pick in 2022 and a conditional third-round pick in 2023 to Arizona to make the deal happen.

The Islanders now have only one pick — Edmonton’s second-rounder — in the first two rounds of the 2021 NHL Draft, which begins later this week.

According to CapFriendly, the Islanders now have approximately $12.17 million in cap space available with 18 players signed to the NHL roster.

They still need to work something out with restricted free agent defenseman Adam Pelech, however. Casey Cizikas and Kyle Palmieri are unrestricted free agents as well.

Re-signing Pelech has to be a priority for the Islanders, who hope to have a little more cap flexibility after the Expansion Draft on Wednesday.

Ladd was a member of Stanley Cup winning teams in Carolina and Chicago before eventually joining the Islanders. He has also spent time with the Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets.

Over 950 career NHL games, Ladd has scored 249 goals with 289 assists.

Tab has written about MLB, the NHL and the NFL for more than a decade for publications including The Fourth Period, Bleacher Report and La Vida Baseball. He is the author of two books about the Chicago Blackhawks and has been credentialed for the MLB All-Star Game and postseason and multiple Stanley Cup Finals. He is the co-host of the Line Drive Radio podcast.