Just ahead of puck drop, we received some fresh news on the Brock Nelson front for the first time since before the 4 Nations Face-Off. On TSN’s Insider Trading, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports that the New York Islanders have not made Brock Nelson available for trade as of today.

Islanders general manager and president of hockey operations Lou Lamoriello made his last pitch on a contract extension Thursday.

Maybe the Islanders should consider more day games. In the only afternoon start on home ice all year on Saturday, they were shot out of a cannon, beating the Predators, 7-4, for a second straight victory with an Ilya Sorokin empty-net goal to boot as the trade deadline ticked closer.

The New York Islanders enter the NHL trade deadline with a lot of questions to answer. They have pending free agents and sit outside of a playoff spot. But the Eastern Conference is weak and one key piece could catapult them up the standings.

But, very notably, pending unrestricted free agents Brock Nelson — No. 1 on most trade target projection boards — and Kyle Palmieri both remained in the lineup on Tuesday as president/general manager Lou Lamoriello opted not to hold his assets out for protection.

It’s officially the eve of the NHL Trade Deadline. Despite how close the deadline is, the New York Islanders camp is in virtual radio silence regarding Brock Nelson’s status. This is exactly how team president and general manager Lou Lamoriello likes it.

Brock Nelson practiced with the Avalanche in Denver on Friday. Yet, perhaps surprisingly, there were no other key members of his former team missing from the Islanders’ practice at Sharks Ice. President/general manager Lou Lamoriello did not trade fellow forwards Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anders Lee despite teams inquiring about them,

So even as Wednesday passed without news coming from the Islanders as the NHL trade deadline approaches on Friday, there was still plenty to talk about. All indications are that president/general manager Lou Lamoriello has fielded calls from other teams with Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri pending unrestricted free agents and potential fits for several playoff contenders.

Every practice, every game is a prove-it moment. The point? The Islanders have a multitude of players with a lot to prove to coach Patrick Roy and president/general manager Lou Lamoriello. Start with the team as a whole as they entered Monday night’s match against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden just six days after their rivals ran them out of UBS Arena with a 5-1 win.

It’s time for another edition of NHL rumours. All of the smoke has settled from Friday’s trade deadline. However, there is still plenty to talk about in the rumour mill.

The goal of general manager Lou Lamoriello, whose team sits four points out of a wild-card spot, was to re-sign pending unrestricted free agent forwards Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri. Lamoriello was unable to retain Nelson, who reportedly turned down a three-year deal at around $7.5 million annually.