There's No Reason For Islanders To Hold On To Their 2024 First-Round Pick
On Tuesday, the NHL held the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery, which the San Jose Sharks won after a masterful tank job this past season.
They’ll be selecting Macklin Celebrini, the 17-year-old Vancouver native who had 64 points (32 goals, 32 assists) in 38 games for Boston University and became the first freshman to win the Hobey Baker Award.
The New York Islanders didn’t have a chance at being a lottery pick, as they’ll select at No. 18…if they keep it.
Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello has traded away his first-round pick four times in his six years on Long Island, doing so to acquire Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac, Alexander Romanov, and Bo Horvat.
Why stop now?
Whether you believe it or not, the Islanders are in win-now mode.
At some point, the Islanders will need to begin adding first-round selections to their prospect pool so that they eventually have talented youngsters ready and waiting to fill the holes that veterans will eventually leave behind.
There are reasons for optimism in the prospect pool list, which we will dive into in another story. Defense prospects Calle Odelius and Isaiah George should be joining the organization for 2024-25; forward Alex Jefferies scored at will in his short sample size with Bridgeport, and Matthew Maggio took strides in his first AHL season.
But, with certain players like Mathew Barzal, Bo Horvat, and Ilya Sorokin locked up long-term — with Noah Dobson likely joining them soon — the Islanders need to be focused on winning now and getting pieces to help them win now, or those deals go to waste.
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The time to have started retooling the organization properly would have been after missing the playoffs in 2021-22, following the back-to-back runs to the Eastern Conference finals.
Instead, the Islanders continued to go for it and now find themselves in a salary-cap pickle for the second straight offseason with nothing to show for it after being bounced from the first round by the Carolina Hurricanes for a second straight postseason.
Unlike the last few offseasons, there are reasons to think that Lamorielllo will make changes this summer, necessary ones at that.
Who knows how big the moves will be, but head coach Patrick Roy has proven in his three months on Long Island that his system works and fits how regular-season hockey should be played. He needs more players who can play his style.
Sure, the Islanders can draft a player with the 18th overall pick who fits Roy’s mold, but who is to say Roy will be coaching the team in two to three years and if that player will be ready by then?
The player projected to go 18th overall is 18-year-old Finnish forward Julius Miettinen (C/W), who just scored 67 points (31 goals, 36 assists) in 66 games for the Everett Silvertips of the WHL.
He’s a strong center with sneaky good hands, and given that he started as a defenseman, he has a strong understanding of the game through multiple lenses.
Here’s the thing about prospects: No one knows how they will turn out. Outside of the elites, no one knows how they will turn out at the NHL level if they even get there.
So, when players like Nikolaj Ehlers or Jakob Chychrun can be had in a deal that would include the 18th overall pick to help the Islanders improve for the 2024-25 and beyond, it would be foolish not to make that move, of course, with extensions in place.
When you are trying to become a Stanley Cup contender, you trade a question mark for a proven NHL player every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
In theory, the Islanders could move a player like Brock Nelson, the 32-year-old centerman who is eligible to sign an extension on July 1, and., no question, get a first-round pick back.
But, if the Islanders do trade Nelson, and they aren’t getting a younger replacement center or aren’t using the 18th pick to bring in a player that can pot 30 goals, that move doesn’t make much sense unless the team truly is going to retool, taking a step back in 2024-25 to take multiple steps forward in 2025-26.
Whether you agree or not, the Islanders believe that they are right there competing for a Stanley Cup, and if that’s truly how management feels, don’t be shocked if some other team drafts with the 18th overall pick on June 28th.