What would you have me say in an audio blog entry that would only take a little more time to write.
I'm very happy for all New York Islander Fans who all deserve a night to enjoy this, they selected the player best suited to their needs which is a scorer who is considered a franchise talent and someone that has been hyped for years.
Garth Snow did Bill Torrey proud and the gm impressed me with his poker face and in the end had many guessing wrong, less was not only more but most in this case.
A little surprised at all the trades by Snow-Jankowski and staff to maneuver into position to take a player projected to go somewhere in the twenties and I think I have the crawl correct for Saturday. The Isles preview had Calvin de Haan with picks 30-60. Zack Kassian is a right wing for a spot the Isles badly need a prospect or two on that side.
Mike Iggulden is not that player given how he has moved around, unless something gives in UFA Robin Figren or someone else may have to be.
Having written that de Haan is this teams highest drafted defender selected since Eric Brewer and the only first rounder since that draft. Obviously his connection to Tavares combined with his offensive ability helped in the choice. Add de Haan to a group that includes Katic, Kohn, Ness, Niemi and Jack Hillen among others remembering for now the Isles have six defenders under contract (not counting Hillen RFA) for next season already who were only healthy for about two or three days as a group.
It starts up again Saturday with the Isles having the first shot at Ferraro among a few first rounders who were not taken.
New York will have picks 31, 56 late in the second round, No. 91 at the end of the third round along with selections 122 & 152.
You can see the trades coming after Philadelphia paid a huge price for Pronger with Bouwmeester available starting 7/1 or his rights traded before and I absolutely see the same things at work that got McCabe traded to Florida here with Kaberle unless Boston gets to work quickly with Kessel. Will some team be able to polish up Dany Heatley's image which Newsday never attempted to do for Yashin if they pay his bonus now?
If I'm Garth Snow I'm offering Sutton or Witt to offset the bonus but it's obvious the Sens are going to want some young talent and I'm guessing a lot more than some combination of Tambellini or Blake Comeau-Frans Nielsen.
I don't buy Murray for a second saying he'll play Heatley if he cannot trade him for what he wants.
I don't expect an answer tomorrow in the draft for this but anyone else find it frightening Tim Jackman or Joel Rechlicz is the enforcer to protect Tavares who will not be on his line?
Will be out from 12pm to about 2pm so I will have third round early and will come back and fill in blanks later.
Feeders have all the relevant information and then there is Newsday who did a very poor job claiming through Colorado Snow was taking Duchense before changing the headline or Arthur Staple reminding us Tavares is not even as good as Stamkos which is a joke for someone who broke Gretzky's scoring record making such an outlandish claim.
Can Newsday go pay-subscription fast enough after yesterday? ITV did a fantastic job and had everything from Tavares, to Wang to Gordon.
Peter Botte was left home for the Ranger centric writer at the Daily News. The Post had Larry Brooks cover the Isles in Montreal while Mark Everson covered the Devils, Dan Martin was at the Coliseum. Messier's biographer covered the Islanders-Rangers and Devils in Montreal for the Times.
Finally for a blog that at best has been in experimental mode long after it's post closing date with some audio entries that has been lingering around at best it was very nice to see such a huge turnout here so thank you.
Our poll results had a combination of 38 votes not blaming Snow if Tavares were a draft bust. ITV went all out with interviews from basically everyone involved.
