Anders Lee signed a three-year, $16.2 million contract with the Utah Mammoth on July 1, and the move has already changed more than his NHL address. He and his wife, Grace, have moved their three young children — Ruby, 6, Josephine, 4, and Augie, 2 — to Utah as he begins a new chapter after 13 seasons with the New York Islanders.
The timing is why the move still feels fresh. Lee turned 36 on July 3, only two days after the deal was done, and he is trying to build a routine while his family does the same. He said getting the kids settled was priority No. 1, and that has meant making the move as smooth as possible for Grace and the children while he starts with a new club.
Lee spent his entire NHL career before this with the Islanders, a run that included eight seasons as captain and a place in the team record book. He left New York ranked fifth all-time in games played with 923, fourth in goals with 308 and 10th in points with 549, numbers that explain why walking away was harder than simply changing sweaters.
That was the part Lee could not ignore. He said goodbye to the group he had done it with for 13 seasons, and he said that was very difficult. Before the move, he said he talked to everybody. The decision still made sense, but that did not make it easy.
What has helped is the company he has already found in Utah. Lee and Vincent Trocheck have become close teammates, and their families have been spending time together as both players adjust. Lee said it has been so nice, honestly, and Trocheck called the shared change a treat. For Lee, the new on-ice role will look different too: he is no longer arriving as the long-time captain and centerpiece of one team, but as a veteran forward asked to fit into a new group and new habits in Utah.
Lee’s path has been a long one since the Islanders made him a sixth-round pick, No. 152, at the 2009 NHL Draft. He has now moved from being the face of that franchise’s recent past to a veteran presence trying to settle a young family and a new locker room at the same time. The unanswered question is not whether he can adapt. It is how quickly the Utah Mammoth will get the version of Lee that made him one of the Islanders’ most durable and productive players in the first place.
