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New York Islanders Pros And Cons(ish) of Winning 2018 NHL Lottery Draft

MONTREAL, QC - JANUARY 05: Rasmus Dahlin #8 of Team Sweden skates the puck during the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship bronze medal game against Team Russia at the Bell Centre on January 5, 2017 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Team Russia defeated Team Sweden 2-1 in overtime and win the bronze medal. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - JANUARY 05: Rasmus Dahlin #8 of Team Sweden skates the puck during the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship bronze medal game against Team Russia at the Bell Centre on January 5, 2017 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Team Russia defeated Team Sweden 2-1 in overtime and win the bronze medal. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 12: General Manager Garth Snow of the New York Islanders watches the teams first practice at the Barclays Center on September 12, 2013 in Brooklyn borough of New York City. The Islanders are due to move into the building at the start of the 2015-16 season. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Con(ish) of Winning Lottery Draft

Do you want to keep Garth Snow as the General Manager of the New York Islanders? Cause winning the draft lottery probably keeps him in that role for at least another year.

I say con(ish) because it’s never a bad thing to win the lottery draft. But the negative externality of winning the lottery would be we keeping Garth Snow, and that’s not a positive in any-way-shape-or-form.

After that “we want to be accountable, but I’m going to let my two underlings field questions” press conference to end the season, it seems like John Ledecky and Scott Malkin are looking for any excuse; any excuse to keep Garth Snow as the team’s GM for a 13th year. And winning the draft and selecting first overall would do that.

Imagine if the Islanders win the right to draft first thanks to the Calgary pick? A pick the New York Islanders acquired because Garth Snow traded Travis Hamonic to the Flames. The owners would have to keep Garth Snow. What other choices would they have?

I know that there are rumors the Islanders ownership might be looking at replacing Garth, or kicking him up to President of Hockey Operations and giving his General Manager title to someone else. But the owners have been talking about hiring a President for as long as I can remember. Maybe this bad season was the straw that breaks the camel’s back, but so far there’s been no movement.

Winning the right to pick first will certainly give them pause for thought.

Look, the odds of the Islanders winning the first overall pick are slim. They have a 3.5 percent chance with their own pick and a 2.5 percent chance with Calgary’s pick. We probably won’t have to worry about the draft tossing Garth a lifeline.

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But winning is certainly possible. Remember, in 2017 Philly had a 2.204 percent chance of winning first overall, and they drafted second overall. Like Kevin Garnett said, anything is possible.

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