2014 NHL Draft Lottery

After a disappointing season, your New York Islanders are in the running for the top spot in the NHL Draft Lottery with an 8.1% chance to advance.  As a result of their finish this season, the Islanders are currently picking at the 5th spot in the 1st round.  The biggest question is whether or not the organization will chose to keep the pick, or surrender it to Buffalo in compensation for the Vanek trade made early in the season.  The Isles have until June 1 to decide whether to trade 1st round pick in 2014 or 2015 to the Buffalo Sabers.  The challenge to the question is to choose from the top players available this summer or surrender this years pick to use next years pick in for what is predicted to be one of the deepest drafts in quite some time.

 

 

 

 

The odds of being drawn as the top pick are as follows:

 

Buf 25.0%

Fla 18.8%

Edm 14.2%

Cgy 10.7%

NYI 8.1%

Van 6.2%

Car 4.7%

Tor 3.6%

Wpg 2.7%

Ana (from Ott)

2.1% NJ 1.5%.

 

UPDATE:   Islanders remain at the 5th pick and did not win the NHL Draft Lottery.

The Florida Panthers move up to the first pick over the Buffalo Sabers and win the Draft Lottery.

So, do the Isles keep the pick or send it to Buffalo?  What direction do they go if they use the pick?  Do they keep it and trade/package it to get top goalie or defensemen? I think I would send it to Buffalo or trade the pick, but Snow will probably keep the pick and expect to do better next season, banking that their 2015 pick will be much lower.  It's hard to argue with that logic.  Its a gamble no matter how you slice it. 


The rumors and opinions will be many on what the Isles will do, but only time will tell what Garth Snow will decide to do with the 2014 first round pick.



NHL Central Scouting's Final Rankings per:



North American Skaters

1) Samuel Bennett, Kingston (OHL), Center

2) Aaron Ekblad, Barrie (OHL), Defenseman

3) Sam Reinhart Kootenay (WHL), Center

4) Leon Draisaitl, Prince Albert (WHL), Center

5) Michael Dal Colle, Oshawa (OHL), Left Wing

 

North American Goaltenders

1) Thatcher Demko, Boston College (NCAA)

2) Mason McDonald, Charlottetown (QMJHL)

3) Brent Moran, Niagara (OHL)

4) Alex Nedeljkovic, Plymouth (OHL)

5) Kevin Reich, Dubuque (USHL)

 

European Skaters

1) Kasperi Kapanen, Kapland (Finland), Right Wing

2) William Nylander, Modo (Sweden), LW/C

3) Kevin Fiala, HV 71 (Sweden), Left Wing

4) Jakub Vrana, Linkoping (Sweden), LW/RW

5) David Pastrnak, Sodertalje (Sweden-2), Right Wing

 

European Goaltenders

1) Ville Husso, HIFK (Finland)

2) Jonas Johansson, Brynas-JR (Sweden-JR)

3) Linus Soderstrom, Djurgarden Jr (Sweden-JR)

4) Kaapo Kahkonen, Blues Jr (Finland-JR)

5) Ilya Sorokin, Novokuznetsk (Russia)



Per Islanders.nhl.com, "The 2014 NHL Draft will take place in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center over two days, Friday, June 27 and Saturday, June 28.

The Islanders have had the fifth overall selection six times, including in 2011, when they selected Ryan Strome. Other former Islanders drafted fifth overall in the NHL Draft include Nino Niederreiter (2010), Raffi Torres (2000), Tim Connolly (1999), Eric Brewer (1997) and Darius Kasparaitis (1992)."
 
 

Isles Notes:

Per Arthur Staple, "Matt Donovan and Brock Nelson announced as selections for U.S. squad for World Championships in Minsk. Tournament starts May 9."

 

John Tavares is proud to be an Islander.  Per Arthur Staple, "Isles captain John Tavares: There is no part of me that wants to leave.    

 

The Flyers sign former Isles D, Andrew MacDonald to a 6-year, $30M contract extension.  Thanks to Philly once again for driving up salaries and overpaying players to silly deals.

Tony Stabile, "In Sunday's @nypost @NYP_Brooksie stated that potential owner Andrew Barroway spoke with Brendan Shanahan about Isles job "over the winter."

 

 

Sound Tigers Notes:

BST Player Transaction:  The Isles have reassigned defenseman Ryan Pulock to the Sound Tigers.

Eight players have been reassigned to the BST including 2013 1st round pick.  

Transactions:  Diamond, Mangene rejoin Sound Tigers; Quine, Pedan and Gagnon back to Stockton.

Jesse Root released from ATO.  

 

NHL Notes: 

Per Steve Lepore, "NBC's NHL coverage is currently up 22% from last year."

Per Chris Botta, "In SBJ: NHL is preparing a credit facility of at least $1 billion. It would allow clubs to borrow from a centralized loan pool."

 

Per Artic Ice Hockey, "Al Montoya set an NHL Jets/Thrashers franchise record for save% this year with a .920."