Islanders News: Lottery for the prospect pipeline

[New York Islanders]

Islanders News: Lottery for the prospect pipeline

The Islanders have not exactly been restocking their prospect cupboard, but it’s crazy what a lottery win and a trade of a top defenseman can do for your prospect rankings.

Not that these lists are authoritative — though they do reflect general conventional wisdom — but the latest Athletic prospect rankings by Corey Pronman have the Isles vaulting up to #9 out of 32 teams, after ranking 25th (which is now Rangers territory) last year. The lede says it all:

Their system isn’t overly deep, but for the first time in a long time, there are a plethora of talented players coming up…

Of course, that is heavily influenced by their top three spots being their top three picks from just a couple months ago, with 1st-overall pick Matthew Schaefer supported by 16th and 17th-overall picks Victor Eklund and Kashawn Aitcheson. Brock Nelson trade return Calum Ritchie rounds out the top four, so the main drivers for this vault up the list have been acquired since March.

If you had to choose, no doubt you’d prefer being the 9th-ranked team in the actual NHL over the 9th-best system, er prospect pool. But if you’re in the running to be mediocre on the ice either way, it’s nice to have some promise in the pipeline.

Islanders News​

Also in the Athletic: Mathieu Darche and Simon Holmstrom happened to cross paths in Italy. “Very different,” Holmstrom said, laughing, regarding Darche and longtime NHL exec Lou Lamoriello, Darche’s predecessor. “I think Darchy comes on and maybe (has) a new mindset and wants to do things a little different, and I think that might be a good thing. I’m very excited to work under him.”

• TV schedule: The Islanders will play 10 times, or thereabouts, on U.S. national broadcasts, whatever that means nowadays. [Isles]
• Catching up with: Bo Horvat. Turns out he and Jonathan Drouin are old buddies: “We’ve played against each other a lot growing up,” Horvat said. “To share that World Junior experience was pretty cool too. He’s a really nice guy, really talented hockey player and we’re lucky to have him.” [Isles]
• Catching up with: Casey Cizikas. He’s super psyched about the lottery win and happy David Rittich has settled in and been absorbed on to Long Island. [Isles]
• Matt Martin has now hosted his hockey camp on Long Island for a decade, or two-thirds of his NHL career. [Isles]
• Islanders “celebrity” “power” couples. I admit I laughed at the clickbait. [FanSided]

Elsewhere​

• EVERYone is talking about Connor McDavid, who basically said he’s gonna wait and see on re-signing with the Oilers. (Don’t blame him one bit — and ooh, how hard was it to say all options are on the table?) With so few game-breaking goalies in their prime right now, he should probably go somewhere that has one…named Ilya. [Sportsnet | Athletic]
• The Wild have finally found agreement with Marco Rossi on a three-year extension with a $5M AAV that puts him at $6M in year three. “If you’ve paid attention to his social media, he has bulked up significantly this offseason with countless hours in the gym and climbing the mountains of Austria.” [Athletic]
• Absolutely heartbreaking look back at a year of grief for the Gaudreau family. I gasped several times…I think if you’ve lost someone very close and well before their time, it will ring very familiar (and maybe you want to avoid it). But if you haven’t…yep, this is what it’s like. [Athletic]
• I feel really freaking old when San Jose’s arena is deemed out of date and due for $300+ million in renovations. (But like the “new” Comiskey Park, it was built right before things to super fancy, so relative obsolescence set in quickly.) A deal with the city commits to renovations and keeping the team there until after I’m retired/gone. [TSN]
• Evidently we’re supposed to care that Patrick Kane wants to make the Olympic team. [TSN]

Source: https://www.lighthousehockey.com/is...anders-news-lottery-for-the-prospect-pipeline