KoC 2011 NHL Entry Draft Preview

When it comes to the NHL Entry Draft, you can do all the “homework” you want and still miss the mark quite a few times.  The fact is, one can’t truly anticipate trades, last minute deals for moving up or down or packaging picks for an end result to be named later.

What I can say is that the Islanders look pretty good at the 5^th spot with this crop of quality players.  The 4^th spot looked better, but New Jersey and their 3.6% chance won the lottery, so 5^th it is.  Watching the rebuild over the last few years has taught me Garth Snow is capable of an in or out of the box approach.  He seems to be very big on scouting and compliments chosen prospects with meetings on Long Island to gauge the character and fit of the players involved.  Snow has stayed solid or moved back a few times to gather picks, and bet the prospect he wants will still be there. 

Earlier, I guessed the Isles might go for Adam Larrsson when their 21 game winless streak assured me they would finish with a bottom two pick.  He would be my first choice.  However, they somewhat righted the ship and made some solid strides at improving as a team, thereby lowering their pick to the 4, I mean 5 spot.  Then I figured, they might go for a Sean Couturier or Jonathan Huberdeau, and they still may, if they are available.

Gabriel Landeskog is a solid winger and I think he may become an Islander if he is still available.  Touted as “the most NHL ready,” of his peers, Landeskog has excelled at the mental part of the game and has potential to be a talented goal scorer in the NHL someday.  My long shots in a trade down scenario are Mika Zibanejad and Ryan Strome.  Zibanejad has been scouted as a complete offensive player with a heavy shot who likes to play a physical game.  Strome has been touted as the player to watch in this years draft mainly due to his consistency and recent jump in effectiveness over one OHL season finishing first in scoring with 1.63 points per game.
 

But as Brian Compton of NHL.com and IPB tv has pointed out, scoring was not really the problem last season.  Now you always would like more scoring, but it is said that a solid defense wins championships.  Chris Botta is reporting Dougie Hamilton has made more trips back with Isles brass than any other prospect, so they may very well be thinking defensively.  Ryan Murphy would fit the bill as well.  He is known for a scorers' touch in addition to an ability to play a tight defensive game.

Top 10 Rankings per TSN.ca

North American Skaters

Rank	Name	League	Birthdate	Height	Weight	Pos	GP	G	A	P	PIM
1	NUGENT-HOPKINS, RYAN	WHL	04/12/93	6' 0.5"	164	C	69	31	75	106	51
2	LANDESKOG, GABRIEL	OHL	11/23/92	6' 0.5"	207	LW	53	36	30	66	61
3	HUBERDEAU, JONATHAN	QMJHL	06/04/93	6' 1.25"	170	C	67	43	62	105	88
4	HAMILTON, DOUGIE	OHL	06/17/93	6' 4.25"	187	D	67	12	46	58	77
5	BEAULIEU, NATHAN	QMJHL	12/05/92	6' 1.75"	174	D	65	12	33	45	52
6	COUTURIER, SEAN	QMJHL	12/07/92	6' 4"	197	C	58	36	60	96	36
7	BAERTSCHI, SVEN	WHL	10/05/92	5' 10"	181	LW	66	34	51	85	74
8	STROME, RYAN	OHL	07/11/93	6' 0"	175	C	65	33	73	106	82
9	MURPHY, RYAN	OHL	03/31/93	5' 10.5"	166	D	63	26	53	79	36
10	SIEMENS, DUNCAN	WHL	09/07/93	6' 2.5"	192	D	72	5	38	43	121

European Skaters

Rank	Name	Country	Birthdate	Height	Weight	Pos	GP	G	A	P	PIM
1	LARSSON, ADAM	SWEDEN	11/12/92	6' 3"	200	D	37	1	8	9	41
2	ZIBANEJAD, MIKA	SWEDEN	04/18/93	6' 1.5"	191	C	26	5	4	9	2
3	BRODIN, JONAS	SWEDEN	07/12/93	6' 1"	169	D	42	0	4	4	12
4	ARMIA, JOEL	FINLAND	05/31/93	6' 3"	191	RW	48	18	11	29	24
5	JASKIN, DMITRI	CZREP	03/23/93	6' 1"	196	RW	33	3	7	10	16
6	KLEFBOM, OSCAR	SWEDEN	07/20/93	6' 3.5"	200	D	23	1	1	2	2
7	SALOMAKI, MIIKKA	FINLAND	03/09/93	5' 11"	198	RW	40	4	6	10	53
8	NERMARK, JOACHIM	SWE-JR.	05/12/93	6' 1"	187	C	37	8	18	26	16
9	GRANLUND, MARKUS	FINLAND-JR.	04/16/93	5' 10"	169	C	40	20	32	52	49
10	BENGTSSON, RASMUS	SWEDEN-2	05/14/93	6' 2.5"	189	D	45	2	7	9	6