New York Islanders Failures at the Draft Table

The NHL entry draft is never a certainty. Teams never know how these kids are going to translate in the NHL. Sometimes you hit big, sometimes you miss. We present our list of some of the worst draft choices in Islanders history.

The New York Islanders have been around since 1972. They’ve drafted over 400 players in that time. Some of those players have gone on to be not only legends for the franchise but in the sport as a whole.

Players like Mike Bossy, Denis Potvin and Bryan Trottier have gone on to have Hall of Fame careers while wearing the orange and blue of the New York Islanders. But with every hall of famer comes a player that fails to live up to expectations and is nothing more than a disappointment for the team.

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Before we go right into the list, we wanted to define what a draft failure might be. We aren’t just talking about 7th round picks that couldn’t crack the NHL squad. Rather we’re talking about first round selections that never panned out.

Every player on this list was drafted in the first round of their respected draft year by the New York Islanders. In fact, none of the players on this list were taken later than 16th overall.

First round players are the elite of their draft year, often thought to be NHL talent for years to come. They don’t need to be generational talents like Connor McDavid is said to be, but they should be able to establish themselves in the league.

None of these players did that.

Next: No. 5 Brett Lindros