Snow way! Isles GM fails to deal at deadline again

Another trade deadline passed while the Islanders stood pat.

In a move (or lack thereof ) that has become commonplace during the tenure of general manager Garth Snow, the Islanders chose not to part with any assets and kept the team intact while they remain on the periphery of the playoff picture.

The most attractive option about which Snow inquired was Avalanche winger Matt Duchene, but the asking price remained confus- ingly high — so high Colorado chose not to move Duchene or captain Gabriel Landeskog. Either would have fit the Isles’ need for the ever-absent top-line winger alongside John Tavares, but talks never resulted in action.

Then Snow tried to pawn off goalie Jaroslav Halak, wasting away at AHL Bridgeport since he cleared waivers around New Year’s Day, along with his $4.5 million salarycap hit for next season (and an actual-money salary of $5 million). It was reported Snow didn’t want to absorb too large a portion of his sal- ary, so Halak was not moved and now is a prime candidate to be bought out this summer (in which case the Islanders still will be eating half his salary) unless he can find a new trade partner.

Snow did leave a paper trail miles long, incessantly bringing players up and down from Bridgeport over the past two days for the sake of having them practice with the team and also be eligible for the AHL playoffs. And now, three games into a franchise-record nine-game road trip, it looks as if prized prospect Josh HoSang is going to make his NHL de- but Thursday night in Dallas.

Devils stockpile picks

General manager Ray Shero seemingly accepted the Devils’ fate as postseason outsiders and sold off what he could while preparing for the future.

He traded forward P.A. Parenteau to the Predators in exchange for a sixth-round pick in 2017, a return that likely would have been more if the former Ranger and Islander weren’t suffering from a finger injury. That pick gave the Devils 11 selections in the upcoming draft, in- cluding one first-rounder, two seconds, two thirds and two fourths.

Shero also sent pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Kyle Quincey to the Blue Jackets in exchange for defenseman Dalton Prout, who has one more year left on his two-year, $3.15 million deal and can be exposed in June’s expansion draft.

Rangers’ minor swap

The Blueshirts made one small deal, acquiring former Islanders forward Taylor Beck from the Oilers for forward Justin Fontaine.