2024 NHL Draft

[Osakahaus]

Something tells me Bednarik is going to be a fan favourite and a player that will win a Mr. Islander award in the future. I thought Eiserman was the pick of the draft for the Isles, but more I read into Bednarik makes me think he may be the one.

Bednarik honestly could be the islanders steal of the draft. I hope that he develops because we badly need a legit center prospect

 

[JRD76]

Bednarik honestly could be the islanders steal of the draft. I hope that he develops because we badly need a legit center prospect

Is he better than Danny Nelson? He's probably the isles top center prospect.

 

[seafoam]

He’s the spawn of Satan

If that was the case he’d be 6’6.

 

[SI]

There was the Rosner quote about how the team is re-upping Wahlstrom and that they would be looking for a return if they were to move him.

In any case, yes, using all 6 picks and making no moves seems like it means they're bringing things back with tweaks. Not written in stone, but it did look like any significant moves would require the usage of these first 3 picks as tradeable assets.

With buyouts taking place, I mean, it sure does look like a Skinner would be one of those candidates for signing with someone real cheap in order to be part of a successful outfit that's going for it.

When the RFAs and Reilly are re-upped, there really won't be a lot of dough to play with on the free market.

There will be 3.9m left to add Reilly and another F once Holmstrom and Wahlstrom are re upped at their qualifying offer .875 for 1 year and .918 for 1 year

I suggest going with a cheaper alternative instead of Reilly and giving the lion's share of that cap space to a top 6 F - Skinner or Arvidsson.

 

[Chapin Landvogt]

With the event quickly approaching... some last pick-related thoughts...

Fairly realistic 1st and 2nd round players my gut tells me the Isles are likely very interested in for this draft (in no particular order):
Helenius, Connelly, Yakemchuk, Beaudoin, Emery, Vanacker, Luchanko, Parascak, Pulkkinen, Freij, Hemming, O’Reilly, Kleber, Poirier, Pettersson, Miettinen, Howe, Fischer, Spellacy, Montgomery, Wallenius, Eriksson, Skahan, Ralph, Osborn, Pitner, Zether, and Bednarik.

Predictive thought 1:
If the Islanders should use their first rounder on someone widely not considered a first rounder, my bet is that it is used on either Pulkkinen, Vanacker, or O’Reilly.

Predictive thought 2:
If Helenius is on the board when Chicago is up to bat at 18, I predict that we move back down to 18 and return their 2nd to them so as to select Helenius.

Players I can see the scouting staff being interested for their 4th and 5th picks:
Ruohonen, Traff, both Marrellis, Fernstrom, V. Lindberg, Romani, Nabokov, Patterson, Boilard, Yegorov, Pridham, Gidlof, Wetsch, Burrows, Misskey, McMorrow, V Vaisanen, Zetterberg, Zeller, Ellinas, Hynninen, Jokinen, Pikkarainen, Berglund, Vuollet, Park, Soini, Pilgrim, Eliasson, Puolanne, Mrsic, Muhonen, Loponen, Burnevik, and Melovsky.

They’ll use their last pick on someone no-one really knows, who is likely an overager. My stab at who they might consider there:
Hedqvist, Sjodin, Kiukas, Lassila, Rautiainen, Young, Koskipirtti, Fransson, Huovila, J. Svensson, Varga, Loke Johansson, Ahonen, J Vaisanen, Vuontisvaara, Nordmark, Kumpula, Tuhkala, Kirsch, Nykyri, Naukkarinen

PS) Bolded names are for those who I feel the scouting staff likely loves.

Initial thoughts to the picks made on the weekend:
- Despite our recent history with Dal Colle, Bellows, and Wahlstrom, you've gotta go with Eiserman at 20 under these circumstances. Rarely are you able to combine you team's greatest system need with pretty much the BPA on the board. Love that he'll be playing for Pandolfo at BU. I'm also thinking there's a real good chance that Celebrini will remain there for one more season, which should give us a lot of thrills following the Terriers next winter. Love that he won't be 18 for another two months and that "pot meets kettle" with this selection. I do truly believe he's cut from a very different cloth than Wahlstrom. No worries about the supposed defensive issues. Didn't think he'd be there at 20.
- Entering the draft, I felt very strongly that we'd go with a Nordic player with one of our first two picks. Why? Because that's what we've done every year since 2019. It happened again and it was probably the singlemost Nordic player I reckoned the Islanders would be in on. Why? Because he was the best Finnish overager out there and the Isles take one, if not two, overagers basically every draft, even if usually later. Pulkkinen had a hell of year, looking like quite the stud moving forward. Exciting is his offensive upside. He's pretty mobile. Definitely a quality asset for this team, one that will likely come in VERY handy once Pelech becomes tradeable.
- During the U18 Worlds, I came to these boards after watching the US play and made a post to the effect that "Bednarik sure looks like a kid our scouting staff must be in love with." I mean, he's basically Danny Nelson with less height but more offensive acumen. As I'm already pretty certain that Nelson is well on his way to an NHL career of some sort, I can't wait to see what Bednarik does in college - together in a team with Eiserman. Does he have more offense in him than he could show behind Hagens with the USNTDP?
- I'm pretty familiar with Gamzin, to be honest. He's tall in net and can really get deep without hitting the ice. The glove is active and he tracks the play well. Doesn't move out of the net much. Very controlled. Let in some stoppable goals this year, for sure. But as others have pointed out, this has the Naumovs hiring written ALL OVER IT. But ok, Gamzin can play and I'm hearing he's in line for more KHL action next season. A 1.97 GAA and .937 SV% in 13 KHL games are pretty sweet stats.
- Pronman listed Gidlöf as the highest ranking goaltender in this draft in his final rankings. Others had him in their top 100. He's real big and he's technically quite sound. He can slither around nicely in that goalmouth. Hasn't been a big winner or put up great stats in juniors to date though. Looks like as much of a project as anyone.
- In the 6th round, you can do a lot worse than Veilleux. The third pick heading to Boston for college hockey (Harvard), gotta kind of look at him as having added an Aho type to the organization. He's bigger, of course, but he's about managing the game and trying to be positionally sound while not being an outstanding skater.

Summary:
Considering the picks were kept, this was a pretty typical Islander draft. Like Wahlstrom (and then Wilde) and Raty before him, the Isles saw what was on the board and took the overanalyzed dropper. No shenanigans. They then took several Nordic players, one being with their 2nd pick, like when they took Nurmi last summer. They also added more USNDTP players after having taken two last summer too. They tend to take a goalie every two drafts, so they stayed (overly) true to that plan. They have taken 2 overagers on a number of occasions and they did it again this time around. In general, we know they've never minded taking upcoming college kids and they even got three this time. Admittedly, Gamzin is the first Russian they've taken since Iskhakov in 2018 and it's the first time in a long time that the team didn't draft anyone out of the CHL.

Synopsis:
At the moment, this draft looks just fine and the pundits are saying that too. There's actually pretty good reason to believe the first tive picks will all be NHL topics at some point while Veilleux was ranked among the top 150 by most agencies. Although it's not saying much about recent years, this is the staff's best since 2018. It also happens to coincide much more with the rankings of independent agencies.

My take:
I don't find myself thinking "Oh man, we could've had..." for the first 3 picks. All very typical and very sensible Islander picks. I've been vocal about my general non-belief in drafting goalies. I do acknowledge that we got two very interesting ones who I was well aware of before the draft. Did we need two? What does that say about the organization's belief in Lennox and Tikkanen? What we can assume is that Gamzin is coming over next summer. I'd say there's a 50/50 chance that they'd sign Pulkkinen (contract are gonna be tight between now and the fall) and bring him over now. Most teams wouldn't. Our Isles do that kind of thing. The rest are all going to be growing in college and Sweden next season. Here's hoping Gidlöf gets some pro play.

Missed opportunity:
- Really tough for me to see Montgomery go right after Gamzin. He's got some real goods. His drive to the net is incredible. And even though some were surely wondering about Kiviharju, I could've sworn Zether and Burrows would be guys this staff would be real high on.
- By the time Pick 147 was on the board, all my thoughts were geared towards two OHLers, namely Luke Misa and Anthony Romani. I thought Misa would be top 100 pick. He's got some goods. And with the Isles' love of overage CHLers, I thought Romani would be a guy they could shoot for here. I know most were looking at Poirier, but he just seemed moot after having taken Eiserman and for my money, at least Misa is the better prospect one way or another.
- I was really excited that Fibigr and Pitner were on the board at 179. I like Fibigr a good bit but knew we don't really take Czechs, so I resigned to the fact that he'd not be the pick. But I thought Pitner would be their guy! Not only is he a righty shot who most agencies had in the top 90, but he played in Youngstown, so the Isles certainly know him. Just seemed too logical. Up front, I saw that overager Burnevik was on the board and he's been one I've seen as a kid I thought this organization would greatly value. He's got a Brock Nelson feel. In addition, I was very surprised to see USNTDP center Humphries on the board. I liked what I saw of him at the U18 Worlds and heck, he put up 82 points this season before adding 5 in Finland. So, this is the one pick where I really thought there were some clearly better options on the board. But that's just MHO. Veilleux could end up being the best of them.

 

[scott99]

Great insights as always Chapin, a great read.