On a day when the New York Islanders inducted Pat LaFontaine into the team's Hall of Fame, one of the team's newest acquisitions was the hero.
Emil Heineman scored the shootout winner to cap off a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, his second in as many skills competitions.
However, in a roundabout way, Heineman's heroics were the end of a 44-year history of the original deal that brought LaFontaine to Long Island. The pick used to select LaFontaine was acquired in a 1981 deal with the Colorado Rockies in exchange for Dave Cameron and Bob Lormier.
However, that was just the start of what was an expansive trade tree.
You are NOT wrong. Dobson stemmed from it, sicko stuff pic.twitter.com/Jzd3W36Z0L
— MF Isles (@MF1sles) December 14, 2025
The Heineman branch of the trade tree has several high-profile names involved.
It starts with Pierre Turgeon, one of four players acquired in the first trade with the Buffalo Sabres in 1991. After four seasons, he was traded to the Montreal Canadiens with Vladimir Malakhov for three players, including Kirk Muller and defenseman Mathieu Schneider, who set the next leg into motion.
Schneider and D.J. Smith were part of the deal that brought Wendel Clark back to Toronto, with Kenny Jonsson, an Islanders Hall of Famer being part of the return. However, a Hockey Hall of Famer in Roberto Luongo was taken with a first-round pick that went to New York in the trade, which became the next branch.
He and Olli Jokinen were dealt to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Mark Parrish and Brent Sopel. Those two were dealt to the Los Angeles Kings in the trade for Jeff Tambelini. The other Islander acquisition, Denis Grebeshkov, was traded to the Edmonton Oilers Marc-Andre Bergeron and a 2008 third-round pick that became Kirill Petrov.
Petrov and Allen Rourke were part of a return deal to the Oilers for a 2008 second-round pick, which became Travis Hamonic. Which leads us to the more recent and, for now, final developments.
Hamonic was traded to the Calgary Flames in 2017 with a 2019 fourth-round pick for three draft picks. One of them was a 2019 first-rounder, which became Noah Dobson. Evidently, this culminates in the Heineman trade, where he joined the Islanders in exchange for the picks that became Victor Eklund and Kashawn Aitcheson.
Emil Heineman scores a beauty to secure the @NYIslanders' shootout win! 🦞 pic.twitter.com/Oz84UlypEb
— NHL (@NHL) December 14, 2025
However, several of the tree's branches are eye-catchers. As part of the deals on the opposite side, the Alexei Yashin trade is part of the story. The Islanders traded Hall of Fame defenseman Zdeno Chara, Bill Muckalt and a first-round pick, which became Jason Spezza, in the deal for Yashin. Also notable was a deal for forward Oleg Kvasha to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for a 2006 third-round pick, which was later traded to the Boston Bruins to allow them to take Brad Marchand.
With the original trade of LaFontaine to Buffalo sparking the last 44 years of deals into motion, everything came full circle on his special day. As Heineman continues to make a name for himself on Long Island, it all can be traced back to Saturday's honoree.