New York Islanders Four Options For First Round Pick at 2019 NHL Draft

We’re less than 24 hours away from the draft, what will New York Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello do with his first round pick? He’s got four options. Here’s how likely he is to use either option.

In the first round of the 2019 NHL Draft, the New York Islanders will select 23rd overall. Like every other GM Lou Lamoriello is going to have a choice to make with his first-round pick.

Does he keep the pick and draft a player? Does he trade up the draft to take someone he really likes? Maybe he uses that first-round pick to bring in a top-six player? Or maybe he does the practical thing and just uses the pick to trade down in the draft.

The Islanders aren’t in need of their first-round draft pick. They already have a stacked prospect pool with players like Oliver Wahlstrom, Noah Dobson, Bode Wilde, and Otto Koivula all of which could be in the NHL within a year to a few years time.

Trading their first-round pick away makes perfect sense for the Islanders.

In this post, I’ll go through all four options facing Lou Lamoriello and I’ll give some context around each option, and even give a probability for the Islanders actually going through with each option.

So again, Lou’s options with his first-round pick are:

• Keep it and draft a player with the 23rd overall pick
• Trade up to draft a player he absolutely wants
• Trade down to maximize the Isles draft day haul
• Trade out to bring in a top six player