2009 Draft Day Speculation - Part One

Starting today, there are only 11 more days until Garth Snow, Ryan Jankowski, and possibly Charles Wang step up to the podium at the Bell Centre in Montreal and select John Tavares with the first overall pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. Well, it would be that simple only in my dreams, and I am sure the dreams of thousands of other Islander fans who sit and wait patiently for this fateful day to come. Who knows, maybe it will turn out that simple. Truth be told, there may only be four to five people in the world who truly know Garth Snow’s intentions with the first overall pick: himself, Charles Wang, Ryan Jankowski, Scott Gordon, and Garth Snow’s wife.

A long time friend of mine, and current writer for the New York Islanders Official Website, Richard Arleo, explained to me yesterday that no matter how hard ticket representatives, writers, TV analysts, and thirty-year employees of the New York Islanders try, they simply get nothing more than a cracked smile and a wait-and-see response from Mr. Snow. It is for this reason that we can safely say all the leaks about Victor Hedman being the top pick, and all the Islanders bashing on Tavares and his skating issues (if you could call them that) are simply pure foolishness floating around the Internet.

On the other hand, Snow has been much more candid about his intentions with the 26^th overall pick that he acquired from Ottawa in the trade that brought the Islanders Dean MacAmmond, as well as the aforementioned pick, in exchange for Mike Comrie and Chris Campoli. While last year’s draft appeared to be about obtaining a large number of picks in order to replenish a depleted farm system, this year’s draft is already showing signs of being about the quality of players within the Islanders farm system.

Many bloggers across the Islanders blogosphere have already begun to throw around ideas for what to do with the 26^th overall pick and the numerous later round picks that the Islanders currently hold, so I felt that I should get in on a piece of the fun before the draft actually happens. Considering I am an ingenious home-office, comment-section, and blogging general manager, I am immediately smarter than Garth Snow and the other 29 general managers, and therefore, I can predict these trades, much like my fellow Islander fans and hockey fans who flood Islanders Point Blank, HockeyBuzz, and many other hockey comment sections with trade proposals that should happen. What I am saying in short is that I know I am going to post some things here that some may find ridiculous, hence the reason I am sitting by myself writing this and Mr. Snow is getting the big bucks. Let’s just have some fun with this. Here is a trade I’d consider making on draft day if I were Garth Snow, just to spark some controversy…

I do not find it unreasonable to believe that the Islanders have the assets to strike a fair trade with the Minnesota Wild. Minnesota currently has the 12^th overall pick in this year’s draft, which will hopefully churn out a great player considering the abundance of talent in this year’s draft. What Minnesota does not have this year is a second round pick, or a third round pick, for that matter. In such a deep draft, wouldn’t a team love to have at least one pick in each round? Since the Islanders are stocked up nicely in each of the first three rounds, I’m sure something such as the following could be worked out:

To NYI: MIN 1^st Rd Pick (12^th Overall)

TO MIN: SJ’s 1^st Rd Pick (26^th Overall), TOR 2^nd Rd Pick (37^th Overall), BOS 2^nd Rd Pick (56^th Overall), PIT 3^rd Rd Pick (90^th Overall).

I think this is a rather fair deal. Minnesota goes from only having one pick in the first three rounds to having one later in the first round, two in the second, and one in the third. The Islanders, on the other side of the trade, are able to use their extra picks to grab a quality player in the number 12 position, while maintaining their second round pick, which is 31^st overall. Who would be available at the 12 spot? I believe at least one of the following would be available: Simon Despres, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Zach Kassian, Dmitry Kulikov, Chris Kreider, Jordan Schroeder, Jared Cowen, and even Nazem Kadri could fall into the Islanders laps with the number 12 selection. All of these players are projected to be phenomenal NHL players in their respected positions, and they could add further quality to whomever the Islanders select first overall.

What do you think? Would you do something like this if you were in Garth Snow’s shoes on the draft floor? Please feel free to leave everything in the comments section below. Check back soon for part two, where I will continue with my ingenious predictions on what the Islanders should do with their abundance of picks.