Day 2 of free agency ended up being busy for the Islanders.
They inked restricted free agent Emil Heineman to a two-year deal that came in at $1.1 million per year, according to a source.
Then they signed Russian free agent Maxim Shabanov to a one-year deal at $975,000, per sources, landing the top European free agent for the second straight summer after signing Maxim Tsyplakov a year ago.
The Post first reported last October that the Islanders were interested in Shabanov, a winger who played this past season with Traktor Chelyabinsk.
That interest continued after Mathieu Darche became general manager, and the Islanders ultimately beat out a group of teams including the Rangers, Flyers and Mammoth for Shabanov’s services.
While there are questions about Shabanov’s size — the 24-year-old is 5-foot-8 and 157 pounds — he does have a proven ability to score. He had 23 goals and 44 assists in the KHL last season, and represents a low-risk bet on the part of Darche.
Much like with Tsyplakov, if things work out with Shabanov, the Islanders will have landed a young middle-six winger for a minimal cap hit and will have team control next summer when his deal expires. If not, the one-year term and low cap hit means that there won’t be much of a headache.
As for Heineman, the Swede whose rights were part of the deal that sent Noah Dobson to Montreal should slot into the fourth line nicely.
The 6-2 wing had 10 points and eight assists with the Habs last season while playing a physical and competitive style of hockey that appealed to Darche.
Heineman played 62 games last year, missing time after getting hit by a car in Salt Lake City.
“We really wanted him to be in the trade, so we pushed to the end to be in the trade,” Darche said last week. “He’s a player the league discovered this year. He had a great start to the year.
“We see potential. He’s a strong kid that skates great, he’s got a rocket of a shot. If you look at his goals, it’s a high-velocity shot that can score. We see a lot of potential in this player. The cap hit right now works, it helps us maybe create other opportunities somewhere else cause he’s an NHL player. He’s an established NHL player now. We feel he can only improve in the coming years.”
There are still a couple of pieces of business left for Darche, namely re-signing Tsyplakov and Marc Gatcomb, who are both restricted free agents.
Darche said Tuesday he didn’t expect any issues getting his remaining RFAs signed.
