Turning Islanders into destination spot as important as NHL draft
The player empowerment era that has arrived in the NHL represents a test of the hypothesis the Islanders have spent the last year restating in various forms.They have Matthew Schaefer.They have UBS Arena.
They have proximity to New York City without the bright lights and media scrutiny of Broadway.For much of the franchise’s history, the Islanders have been treated around the league as the Rangers’ ugly stepbrother, the opposite of a destination franchise.
Can that change now, when the answer to that question carries serious ramifications?The answer will dictate so much in the long term.The Islanders need to both build around Schaefer and, eventually, avoid ending up in the same situation with him as Ottawa and Detroit did with their franchise cornerstones.
How much of that process is able to take place this summer, though, is less clear.Mathieu Darche holds the 13th pick in Friday’s first round of the draft, and if he keeps it, expect him to take the best player available.Predicting who that will be as late as 13th overall is a fool’s errand, but players such as winger Ethan Belchetz, center Tynan Lawrence, defenseman Ryan Lin or winger Wyatt Cullen could be in range.It seems worth highlighting, though, that the pick is Darche’s most easily tradeable high-end asset, should the chance arise.In an offseason that so far has seen Brady Tkachuk and Jordan Kyrou — linked to the Islanders ahead of the last trade deadline — traded, Dylan Larkin request a trade and rumors surround fellow Team USA Olympians Connor Hellebuyck and Zach Werenski, the Islanders have mostly been on the periphery of all the noise.Darche’s two-pronged strategy of trying to make the playoffs and compete as the old guard cycles out — including captain Anders Lee, who, with whatever caveats you want to throw at it, appears likely to hit free agency July 1 — while keeping the prospects who should form the nucleus of a Cup contender a few years down the line means that he must pi...