sabretoothpick wrote:
BagBoy wrote:
BlueandYellow wrote:
...What do we do if the Islanders give us their 1st round pick this year? Or did they already postpone that to next year?
The Isles have until June 1 to decide. Popular wisdom says they keep the pick this year, and give us next year's pick, but this is NYI were talking about, so anything's possible.
If they do give us this year's pick, you do what Murray said - take the best available player, unless someone makes us an offer we can't refuse, of course. If we are picking 5th, chances are Ekblad, Draisaitl and the Sams are gone. That would probably leave us with Dal Colle, which is fine with me, although lots of people are talking about Ehlers, also.
Why would they give us next year's pick? There is no sign that the Isles will be better next year so they might have a chance to get Mcdavid. This year showed that they don't need to be worse than the Sabres.
There are a few reasons.
First, I think NYI
will do better next year. They made the playoffs last year and took 2 games from Pittsburgh. They just got off to a bad start this year. They finished the season 12-7-3 after the Olympics, and that was with Tavares hurt. Strome is coming along very well, and appears to be done with the AHL for good. He had 18 points in 37 games for NYI as a rookie.
Garth Snow's job is on the line next year, so he can't be complacent about making the team better immediately. NYI is not in tank mode like we were this year.
Giving us this year's #5 is like saying "If you think we were bad this year, just wait until next year!" It's hard enough being a NYI fan as it is. Also, since they are moving to Brooklyn, their fan base is a little bit in flux already.
Their owner is looking to sell this team. He's going to get more money selling a franchise that is trying to make the playoffs right now, as opposed to a shitty team that MIGHT get McDavid. A #5 pick is just too high to give up when you have an alternative. That player could reap benefits as early as next year. Vanek was a #5 pick.
As we all know from this year, Even if NYI finishes last next year, they'll still only have a 25% chance of getting McDavid.
It's certainly not an open and shut case, though. Next year's draft is considered much deeper than this year's draft. Maybe the potential new management dictates that they keep the 2015 pick. Also, we already have their 2015 2nd round pick, so for such a deep draft, they would only have the 2nd round pick they got from Philly as their top pick. And the Isles management is the most kooky in all of sports, so who knows?