- Islanders re-sign RFA forward Alex Jefferies to a one-year extension, avoiding an arbitration hearing
- Elliotte Friedman reports a league-minimum deal worth $850K at the NHL level
- Read below for Jefferies’ background and what the two-way structure means for 2026-27
The New York Islanders and Alex Jefferies won’t need an arbitrator to settle things.
New York agreed to a one-year extension with the restricted free agent forward on Friday, sidestepping an arbitration hearing, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. It’s a league-minimum deal that keeps him in the organization for 2026-27.
Friedman laid out the numbers:
The contract pays $850,000 at the NHL level and $100,000 in the AHL, with a $130,000 guarantee. That two-way structure lines up with where Jefferies is right now, a productive minor-leaguer still looking to crack the NHL roster for the first time.
Jefferies, 24, has spent his entire pro career with AHL Bridgeport since turning pro in the spring of 2024. The Islanders drafted the left winger in the fourth round in 2020, and he signed his entry-level deal in April 2024 under former general manager Lou Lamoriello after four years at Merrimack College.
He’s been a steady middle-six producer at the AHL level. Jefferies put up 13 goals and 29 points in 59 games in 2024-25, then matched that point total with 29 in 60 games this past season.
Elite Prospects ranked him 14th in the Islanders’ system heading into last year, with scout David St-Louis writing that Jefferies’ skating “may have no match” in the AHL. That wheels-first game is his clearest path to a call-up.
The extension follows a similar bit of housekeeping earlier in the week, when the Islanders re-signed forward Joey Larson to a two-year deal.
Another jump in AHL scoring, or a sharper two-way game, and Jefferies puts himself in line for his first NHL look.
