LAS VEGAS — The last time the Islanders had a first-round draft pick, there was a different person in the Oval Office, COVID-19 didn’t yet exist and it would be two full years before the team opened UBS Arena.
Simon Holmstrom, the Islanders’ 23rd overall pick in 2019, holds the honor of being the team’s most recent first-round pick, and only two players have been selected in the first round since Lou Lamoriello took over as general manager: Noah Dobson and Oliver Wahlstrom in 2018.
Since then, they have traded their first-round picks for Jean-Gabriel Pageau (2020), Kyle Palmieri (2021), Alexander Romanov (2022) and Bo Holbert (2023).
Lamoriello said at the trade deadline in March that he was willing to send the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft as well, but no one responded.
So when the Islanders quietly announced last month that they had dropped two spots in the first round, trading their 18th and 50th picks to Chicago for the 20th, 54th and 61st picks, the first question, naturally, was whether the Islanders were preparing to make an eventual deal.
If so, it has yet to surface, one day before the NHL’s final in-person draft here in Las Vegas.
Lamoriello is walking a tightrope here.
The Islanders need to bolster their roster, and to do that they need cap space.
They also need to improve their farm system, which is generally considered to be near the bottom of the league.
Doing both at the same time is very difficult.
While Lamoriello is expected to continue prioritizing the present over the future and set his sights on adding some scoring power on Monday, there’s another angle to his approach to this draft.
This isn’t considered a particularly deep draft, and teams will likely have different ratings on their draft boards for Boston College star Macklin Celebrini, who is the presumptive No. 1 pick out of San Jose State.
Taking more chances, especially if they potentially get the player they initially wanted, could be beneficial for a team that desperately needs depth in their system.
“Over the years, the top five, top 10 might be different, but the 32 teams have probably got eight of them there,” said Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving, who will join the Islanders in taking three spots. “Right now, I think there’s guys all over the place, some really good guys, and in a situation like this, I think it’s natural that guys will fall off. We might get a guy higher up the list than other teams, so I think there are some guys that are available.”
Unlike previous years, coach Lamoriello did not comment to reporters on the day before the draft.
In keeping with the theme of unpredictability, if the Islanders do indeed pick 20th overall on Friday, the list of players who could go there is long and (likely) incomplete.
In this case, position is not a secondary factor and the best available player should come off the board.
Windsor Spitfires winger Liam Greentree, Russian winger Igor Chernyshov, Barrie Colts centre Cole Beaudoin, Muskegon Lumberjacks centre Sacha Boisvert and Guelph Storm centre Jett Luchanko are all potential candidates for the Islanders’ roster.
Tri-City Storm left winger Trevor Connelly is also a player to watch given his commitment to Providence College and his ties to Long Island, but Connelly’s string of on- and off-ice controversies, including allegations of anti-Semitism and bullying, could be a detriment if he is selected.
On Day 2, the Islanders will skip the third round and pick with picks 115th, 147th and 179th in addition to two second-round picks, but it will be interesting to see if they tap again into the well of overage prospects that has produced William Dufour, Matt Maggio and Justin Gill in recent late rounds.
But the biggest question going into the Islanders’ draft is whether they’ll land a first-round pick on Friday or extend their winning streak for another year.
