The New York Islanders are in the middle of a re-building process, and currently they are doing things right. With John Tavares being selected with last year’s first overall pick it’s only fitting that the Islanders select in the top-5 yet again.
Currently the Islanders are whispered to have interest in all sorts of players, but the main issue is that they might find Brett Connolly falling into their laps. Connolly was widely considered to be right up there (if not past) Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin, but an early season injury limited him to 20 WHL games—thus dropping his stock slightly. But there is no debate that his talent level is amazing, and he could be a star on the NHL level.
The Islander have a pretty good mix of prospects in their system, but there is a definite lack of right and left wings. The Islanders are pretty set in the other positions:
They have a plethora of centers: With Trevor Smith, Corey Trivino, Casey Cizikas and Justin DiBenedetto taking the spotlight there.
Their defense is also shored up: With Calvin de Haan, Travis Hamonic, Andrew MacDonald and Aaron Ness making strides on defense.
Regardless of position though, the Islanders might not be able to say no if players like Erik Gudbranson, Cam Fowler or even Connolly fall into their lap. The fifth overall pick has always been an interesting one in the NHL and it will be interesting to see what the Islanders do with it.
Make sure that you visit Lighthouse Hockey for a much more detailed draft preview.