NYI Future Outlook

[Zack22]

After the 2019-2020 HF New York Islanders season, I felt the teams aging core needed to be torn apart. The prospect pool was bare and a lengthy rebuild-retool was needed to salvage this franchise.

In 2020, I made my first ever first round pick for the Islanders selecting defenceman Kaiden Guhle 23rd overall. Guhle was known for his defence and physicallity, however we saw Guhle’s offensive potential that would turn him into a top pairing defenceman.

The next year the islanders had their eyes set on rebuilding the farm system. Entering the 2021 draft we had 3 1st round picks in a row at 10, 11 and 12, selecting Kent Johnson, Sebastian Cossa and Fabian Lysell. These picks built up the wings for us and gave us a franchise goaltending piece.

One year later the Islanders had their highest draft pick ever selecting Brad Lambert 6th overall. Lots of controversy with that pick as he fell to 31 in the NHL on draft night. However his skill, speed and size combo compelled us to take the risk. Lambert immediately improved our future centre depth.

The HFNYI have added key pieces in the second and third rounds of those drafts, with the likes of Jackson Blake, Justin Sourdif, Dylan Duke, Devin Kaplan, Jack Peart and everyone’s favourite small defenceman Lane Hutson.

On top of draft capital the HFNYI has been able to acquire young players and prospects to build their future with the likes of William Eklund, William Nylander, Marco Rossi, Jesper Wallstedt, Kirby Dach and Rasmus Andersson.

Now jump to last weekend, Islanders had two guys we were dead set on adding to our core, Dmitri Simashev and Gavin Brindley. Using our draft capital we were able to secure both of them. Simashev at 16 (the pick acquired in the Ekblad and Kyrou trade) and Brindley at 31 (after making a draft day deal with the Flames).

The vision I had of building a young core and replenishing the farm system is finally starting to become clear. The future HFNYI depth chart looks something like this:

William Eklund-Marco Rossi-William Nylander
Kent Johnson-Brad Lambert-Fabian Lysell
Jackson Blake-Kirby Dach-Gavin Brindley
Justin Sourdif-Gracyn Sawchyn-Dylan Duke
Devin Kaplan-Joe Veleno-Rafael Harvey-Pinard

Kaiden Guhle-Rasmus Andersson
Lane Hutson-Dmitri Simashev
Ethan Del Mastro-Jack Peart
Tyler Kleven-Vladimir Grudinin

Jesper Wallstedt
Isaiah Saville
Slavs Peksa

The HF Islanders will be able to add to this prospect pool with 2 1sts and 5 2nds next draft. Patience has been key but our window is finally approaching.

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[Canuck09]

You've done some good work in a short amount of time. It made me think back to when I left the Oilers to take on the Lightning rebuild. I think if you're going to do it right, you need to collect prospects until you think you have a lot...then collect a few more. You're not only going to need the initial wave of youth coming in to turn things around, you're also going to need a second (and third) wave of them coming in. In part to keep your cap manageable with ELC's, but also to give you trade chips when you want to add vets to your lineup for your inevitable playoff runs.

 

[Zack22]

You've done some good work in a short amount of time. It made me think back to when I left the Oilers to take on the Lightning rebuild. I think if you're going to do it right, you need to collect prospects until you think you have a lot...then collect a few more. You're not only going to need the initial wave of youth coming in to turn things around, you're also going to need a second (and third) wave of them coming in. In part to keep your cap manageable with ELC's, but also to give you trade chips when you want to add vets to your lineup for your inevitable playoff runs.

Yup that’s the next stage. Using the immense draft capital to build the edges of the team. Still a few years away but things are looking clear.