ANALYZING THE ISLANDERS DRAFT CLASS OF 2010: The New Entourage
BDGallof | Jun 28, 2010 | Comments 10
So as you might have heard, the NHL had a draft. In it, the Isles made the most curious of moves.
They nailed it.
Now I understand the catcalls of “what about defense?” I got stuck on that too for a bit. But, if you looked at the Isles prospect pool, you’d see this:
Calvin de Haan, defense
Travis Hamonic, defense
Mikko Koskinen, goalie
Kirill Petrov, forward (if he comes over)
Kevin Poulin, goalie (who tends to be underrated on the charts)
We all seemed to get stuck on the team deficiencies on the ice. But, the NHL draft system is not like the NBA or NFL.
Unless you have the good fortune to be at the top of the draft…or bad fortune in the year before…you really aren’t placing those from it directly onto the NHL-roster.
Drafts and prospects cannot be about immediate gratification. We had that in place not too long ago, and the results speak for themselves.
Instead, this new rebuild and careful process is guided by Garth Snow. A former punchline GM who ignored the peanut gallery of judgments and carved out a niche of respect. Those who have dealt with him call him cerebral, unflappable, and calm… even in the glaring lights and cameras of the draft.
So when the fans got focused on defense and those being put on a platter via blogs, interviews, features, tweets, and so forth…it was time to step back and reassess.
If you look at the results of this draft and remain unimpressed, then consider placing these new fowards also right into the top prospects list.
Nino Niederreiter, forward
Brock Nelson, forward
Kirill Kabanov, forward
These are NOT just depth picks or forwards projected to sit on 3rd and 4th lines. They are the NY Islanders top choices that fit best to their ideals, system parameters, and they are well-scouted.
Sure, Kabanov is a roll of the dice. But, what a dice roll it was. A guy whose talent is top of the draft, in a system starving for talent to rise to the top. Kirill will sink or swim. If he sinks, well all it cost was a 3rd rounder.
What this does is create an air and depth of competition on the lower levels for prospects to make the team. No more giveaways. No more just stand there, and you can be on the 2nd line. That time is gone. Just ask Sean Bergenheim who was not given a qualifying offer.
Islanders are moving on. They are giving opportunities for a new class, besides holding onto Matt Moulson, Rob Schremp, Nathan Lawson, Dustin Kohn, and Dylan Reese.
However, there won’t be any freebies. The prospect system took a couple of years to replenish, and now there is a good mixture of talent in there. Those kids will have to play to a higher level to get a spot on the Isles.
No, it does not answer all the Islanders on-ice problems. A draft will never solve that right away, and anyone who tried to tell you this differently did not have a good grasp of what a successful system really is. It is about tiers. It is about achieving. It is about doing the things to a certain level to be able to play on the NHL ice.
Whether you like it or not, this is a rebuilding year for the Islanders, playoff expectations or not. The Islanders will seek to mesh in some vets or young turks that fit their mold come this free agency (blog upcoming on that), then Garth and the braintrust must sit back and watch the coaching kick in and see what comes together.
Some will make the cut. Some won’t.
Be assured, they’ll all be better for it thanks to this here draft class who just added some new young men to the fold… because even if they don’t make the team, they are right around the corner…
It’s all a big step up.
Cheers.
Filed Under: Featured • New York Islanders • NHL
Ahh! So nice to hear some positivity coming out of Islanders Nation. . . I can’t wait for training camp.
Too bad about Bergenheim though. I can’t say I didn’t see that coming but my question is, “Who get’s that roster spot?”
UFA opportunity to upgrade, in my opinion
They don’t seem to be anywhere near the cap FLOOR as of now, it could get very interesting around here in a couple of days. As far as the draft goes since I don’t get to scout these picks, and most of the fan base doesn’t either, it’s pretty amusing to me to watch people argue over these picks that they never saw play. I think most of us are in a better position to give an opinion on free agents that we are more familiar with and have seen play. I certainly hope that Snow has more success with his picks than Milbury had with his. I still say they need to go into next season with a much tougher team and I hope that gets addressed.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by BDGallof, BDGallof, Anthony Curatolo, RANDY WORKMAN, RANDY WORKMAN and others. RANDY WORKMAN said: RT @BDGallof: My newest… ANALYZING THE ISLANDERS DRAFT CLASS OF 2010: The New Entourage http://bit.ly/9H6gFc #isles #nhldraft [...]
Thanks for the fine write up as usual. I like the analysis and the angle. I’ll be arriving in Montreal before noon on Thursday for my annual Jazz Festival visit and I am looking forward to Molson Dry Ice and the coverage there. Once the first two hours pass by, I will gear up for a afternoon/evening/night of good music and Jazz Bar.
Indeed. People are going to go nuts when Snow signs a whole new crop of depth players to fill out the roster. I mean, both de Haan and Hamonic will at least start the season somewhere other than Long Island and maybe Kabanov can push for a roster spot, but he would be best served doing some time somewhere else (does his junior team even want him back?). Bottom line is that the team is going to have to spend some money, but I think most of that cash is going to go to one overpaid forward, one reasonably paid (and probably pretty decent) defenseman, and maybe one or more depth players. Nevertheless, all those moves would be necessary so that the team can have guys holding places until some of the better prospects mature.
I love how you left Kevin Connolly in the picture, that’s Gold, jerry, GOLD!
I don’t have much to add to this amazing write up, but I will say that Season 7 Episode 1 of Entourage was grade-A garbage, and this good crop of prospects isn’t worthy of comparison to that show. Man has it ever gone downhill….
What the Isles have done after picking Clark Saturday has been kind of, well, strange.
Several picks traded although some mighty interesting prospects were still on the board, an very overager was taken, a guy no-one has ever heard of who isn’t even the no. 1 back-up on his college team was taken and then Bergenheim wasn’t re-upped.
Whatever the reasons are for all these things, one gets the feeling there’s more to than we know, especially in Rosen’s case.
In building a team the Isles just need to make sure that they don’t focus solely on talent. They need to maximize the skill set for the role that is required of each player. Unfortunatley the orgnization has had a glaring lack of first line talent and this is the hardest commodity to acquire.
In other words, they shouldn’t look at a failed first line player and think that the solution is to play them on the fourth line. It also means that just because a player is selected in the first round he doesn’t have to be a sniper, but maybe just the best third line winger there is. To me that is the distinction between drafting on talent alone and on acquiring the proper skill set to build a winning team.