And With the First Pick the NY Islanders Select… Little Wang!
Ok no they didn’t! But wouldn’t you love to see Little Wang (Islander’s owner Charlie Wang’s son) crowding the net and screening the Goalie!? Or maybe Little Wang could be a Goalie? He’s got a little bit of a Marty Brodeur frame going on under that jersey.
Anyway after playing coy for way too long about who’d they take with #1 pick, the Islanders got Jonathan Tavares, the hot-shit over hyped rookie who won’t be Crosby, Ovechkin or Malkin but may just make enough of an impact to stabilize a franchise barely above being a minor league team. While the Islanders aren’t my team, I always did like them and hope they can turn things around for the not only good of the storied franchise, but New York and the sport of Hockey.
The other big news was that the Broadstreet Bullies added the biggest (and oldest) Bully they could get by trading (and overpaying) for Chris Pronger in a desperation move to bring Philly a Cup. Good luck with that when your starting goalie is Ray Emery.
An astounding 7 Swedes (If you count U.S. born Tim Erixon) where drafted in the first round, including #2 defensive stud Victor Hedman headed to Tampa Bay. Sweden’s definitely taken over as the number one European country for young talent. Damn you Russia and your shady KHL, Transfer agreement shenanigans! You’re losing rank!
Finally check out how ridiculously young and goofy all the first round picks look… keep in mind they range from age 17 – 19, some may even be 16? Head here for a complete breakdown of how the first round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft went down and who your favorite team banked their futures on. I can tell you Toronto whiffed at #7 and that the Islanders still don’t have this whole running a franchise thing yet figured out by trading up their second first round pick twice to grab a player they would have gotten at #16.
This has been your occasional Hockey post for the 3 of you who care!
- My Pal the Crook
June 27th, 2009 at 2:06 am
Over-hyped or not, surely Tavares is worth a gamble come next fantasy draft? Seriously though, I need tips. Following the NHL via text is like playing some overly-difficult managment sim. I get no NHL on regular UK TV.
June 27th, 2009 at 3:35 am
Here’s hoping that Tavares is a little more Crosby and a little less Rico Fata for the Isles sake.
In Toronto we have a saying: “Even when they (the leafs, the raptors) win, it’s a bad win.” Looks like the same can be said about our Draft choice. If all goes well he’ll perform poorly for us, get traded, and win a Stanley Cup.
June 27th, 2009 at 11:45 am
what up robin! I def know Tavares isn’t Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin, etc. but he has the potential to be really good and might be better than anyone the Isles have currently not counting Streit and Okposo…very excited. but yes this is still a wild franchise when it comes to making decisions…
June 27th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
It’s not a wild franchise it’s a downright moronic one.
1) the traded up two spots to grab a defensemen they only needed to trade up one spot to grab and still stood a chance of grabbing at 26 had they stood still. Passing up higher ranked defensemen in the process just to draft a guy Tavares used to play with. It’s not like De Haan was Tavares wing
2) they then follow up the consecutive Goalie picks in the 2nd and 3rd round… not to knock these guys but this is a very weak draft for goaltenders so why take 2 back to back when you have the 15-year contract man in Rick Dipietro?
3) To take the goaltenders they passed former Islander Ray Ferraro’s son, Landon who was a possible first rounder.
4) Then in the 4th round they draft Casey Cizlkas who’s about to be sentenced on manslaughter charges!
I’m starting to think Tavares may turn into an Alexander Daigle.
Someone else buy the Islanders and move them to Queens!
June 27th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Haha…I’m really not going to applaud or knock the De Haan move because I don’t know shit about the d-men on their board, all I know is what I’ve read, and that they definitely wanted a defensive prospect with their 2nd pick…and Ellis went at 11 to Nashville.
The 2 Goalie picks is obvious to me. I would have loved Landon too.. that might be the next Zach Parise mistake, but it really seems like DiPietro..15 year contract and all is not at all healthy. We’re not getting MacDonald and Danis back (thank god), and the few games Mannino played, I thought he looked like crap. I read as well that this year was a weak goalie year, but it’s also the case in free agency.
That’s funny about Cizlkas, didn’t know about any of that. I’m definitely not saying the Isles aren’t moronic…but i do believe they’re headed in a better direction…which can’t be that hard to do considering how bad they’ve been.
June 27th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
De Haan Is a good puck moving defenseman prospect. he’s a solid pick and an asset in the farm system but there was no reason to reach for him at pick #12. I’m almost certain the Islander were so enamored with him not because of his skill but because he’s played with Tavares
June 28th, 2009 at 2:36 am
If that’s the case then yeah they’re reasoning is stupid. The “kid line” experiment or any of the pairings between young islanders that tore it up together as sound tigers and supposedly had chemistry, failed pretty bad…even worse moving up in a draft to get a guy specifically for his supposed chemistry with your main pick.
s
June 28th, 2009 at 6:11 am
so that’s who the little guy is. I thought he was either Short Round, or Carl from UP.