Just about everyone’s initial instinct when the Islanders completed a pick swap a couple weeks ago that netted them an extra second-round pick was to wonder whether they were stocking up for a potential trade.
That probably is not misguided given the way the Islanders have treated draft picks under Lou Lamoriello.
The last first-round pick they made was all the way back in 2019; since then, they’ve traded their pick each year in deals that brought back Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Kyle Palmieri, Alexander Romanov and Bo Horvat, respectively.
After the Islanders came into this year without a third-round pick, the deal in which they sent picks No. 18 and No. 50 to Chicago in exchange for picks No. 20, No. 54 and No. 61 essentially replenished that void by moving down just two slots in the first round and four in the second round. That’s a nifty piece of business from Lamoriello, no matter the intention.
But if the goal is to trade these picks, it’s misguided.
This draft, which commences at the end of the month at the Sphere in Las Vegas, must be about replenishing a farm system that is alarmingly thin. That’s it. That’s all.
I understand that is not exciting. I understand the temptation to go out and try to get a scorer to pair with Horvat and Mat Barzal or to help the roster in some other way. Nobody is going nuts over Beckett Sennecke or Adam Jiricek, both of whom could be available at 20th overall, the way they are about Macklin Celebrini at the top of this draft.
But that is not where the Islanders are right now.
Watching the conference finals should have cemented something that was fairly obvious already: The Islanders are not just one piece away from being a title contender.
How many times last season did you see the Islanders operate with the tenacity the Panthers showed on the puck for six games against the Rangers? How often did they display the kind of skill the Oilers have, or for that matter, the sort of defensive structure Edmonton has learned to value under Kris Knoblauch? Are they as deep as the Stars? Can they be as sure of their goaltending as the Rangers?
If Ilya Sorokin’s struggles prove to be a one-off, then yes, they can probably match the Rangers in nets. Otherwise, it’s tough to come up with a compelling argument in favor of the Islanders for any of those questions.
On the ice from Long Island
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The Islanders have operated for the past couple years as a team that is on the cusp of title contention when all the results have shown they are a team on the edge of playoff contention. The result has been the depletion of their farm system to its bare bones. None of the trades they have made to give up draft picks have been bad in isolation, but the cumulative weight has come with major consequences.
A couple of impact call-ups could have made a major difference for the Islanders this season when they were dealing with injuries on the back end and a lack of forward depth. Right now, the only two projected players on next season’s Islanders roster on entry-level deals are Samuel Bolduc, whose playing time was reduced to zero under Patrick Roy, and Maxim Tsyplakov, who is 25 and will make his debut this season after coming over from Russia.
No coincidence, they are projected to have less cap space this summer than all but four other teams. The knock-on effect of treating contention as mutually exclusive from making draft picks and building a pipeline has been massive — and all the while, the Islanders’ archrival has stood as one of the best counterexamples in the league.
Will Cuylle, Matt Rempe and Zac Jones all looked promising and serviceable for the Rangers this season, including Cuylle and Rempe appearing in the playoffs. Brennan Othmann and Gabe Perreault are in the pipeline, and general manager Chris Drury has notably refused to include them in deals.
The Islanders don’t need to start hoarding prospects and become the next version of the Sabres. But their best prospects being college free agents and overage late-round picks is not acceptable.
It’s not sexy. It’s not exciting. But the Islanders have to use their draft picks.
New beginnings
Lane Lambert ended up landing on his feet after all, getting a job on Craig Berube’s staff with the Maple Leafs as an associate coach. The hire was made official on Wednesday.
The Maple Leafs did not specify where Lambert will be deployed, but given his track record running penalty kills on various Barry Trotz staffs, including on Long Island, that would appear to make the most sense.
For all of Lambert’s struggles as a head coach, his track record as an assistant speaks for itself. There is a reason he was elevated to the head job, and was considered to be a head coach in waiting during his last few seasons under Trotz.
Whether or not he ends up with a head job again is unclear — his name didn’t appear as a contender for any openings in this cycle, and it’s especially tough to see him succeeding in an attention-heavy market. But likewise, there’s no reason to think he won’t be successful as an assistant coach.
Goalie coach news
The big question after the Islanders shuffled their cabinet of goaltending coaches last week: How often will Sergei Naumovs be working with Sorokin?
Naumovs, Sorokin’s goaltending coach for two seasons at CSKA Moscow, was named in the equivalent role for AHL Bridgeport, Chris Terreri took over Mitch Korn’s role as the organization’s director of goaltending, and Piero Greco stayed as goaltending coach for the Islanders.
Logistically speaking, that means training camp (and the summer) is the only time on the calendar when Naumovs could work with Sorokin without being pulled away from the AHL club.
If that ends up being enough to correct whatever led to Sorokin’s struggles late last season, there is nothing to worry about. If not, it will be interesting to see how often Naumovs is on Long Island, if at all.
