Islanders Ranking 1990s drafts classes: Good, Bad, Ugly
The 1990s weren’t a great decade for the New York Islanders. The entry draft wasn’t an exception. Ranking the 90s draft classes shows why.
Going over the New York Islanders draft classes of the 1990s is a clear reminder of the dramatic turn the organization took to build a competitive roster under new management.
Bill Torrey, the man that built the Islanders from an expansion franchise to one of the greatest dynasties the NHL has ever seen would leave in the early ’90s and eventually be replaced by Mike Milbury.
Mike was the face of the movement that saw the Islanders drop from the golden era under Torrey into irrelevance and even comical relief for the NHL. Sure, Mike didn’t have the greatest set of owners to deal with, but he was the one making the calls and the calls he made didn’t pan out.
Just looking at the drafts that were conducted under his watch and what eventually happened to the players selected shows the direction he decided to take, and how misguided it was.
Mike wanted veteran players to take the Isles into a new era and in order to get those vets he used his draft capital to get them.
As with the other draft class rankings, what I’m evaluating is a class’s impact on the club by the picks the team made. For this, I don’t care if a drafted player was traded for a better (or worse) player. What I want to rank is the impact each draft class had on the Islanders.
I’m measuring “impact on the club” by the number of games played for the club. Only if the number of games played between two draft classes is pretty close will I look at production.
I’ve already done a ranking of the New York Islanders draft classes from the 2010s and 2000s. You can see them here:
The Ugly
1995 – Traded Away
Total games played: 34
Biggest impact: Vladimir Orszagh
Thirty-four NHL games are all they got out of seven picks in 1995 and all 34 came from fifth-round pick Vladimir Orszagh. In the first two rounds, the Isles drafted Wade Redden (1,023 NHL games), Jan Hlavac (436 NHL games), and D.J. Smith (45 NHL games).
Redden was sent to Ottawa in a three-team trade that included the Toronto Maple Leafs. Hlavac never came over to North America to play for the Isles. D.J. Smith was sent to Toronto in that Wendel Clark deal.
With only 34 games played from picks made by the Isles in 1995, it was the least impactful draft class of the decade.
1998 – ReDrafted
Total games played: 42
Biggest impact: Evgeny Korolev
With the ninth overall pick in the 1998 draft, the Islanders selected Mike Rupp. Rupp would go unsigned and would be eventually re-drafted by the Devils with the 76th overall pick in 2000.
To think, Nikolai Antropov and Alex Tanguay were drafted with the tenth overall and 12th overall pick that year. Both would play well over 700 NHL games.
1997 – More Trades
Total games played: 116
Biggest impact: Eric Brewer
The Isles had the fourth and fifth overall pick at the 1997 draft. They used those picks to take Roberto Luongo and Eric Brewer. Both would play over 1,000 games in the NHL over their careers, neither would top 100 games with the Islanders.
Luongo would go to Florida in the deal that sent Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha to the Isles and Eric Brewer would go to Edmonton in the Roman Hamrlik trade.
The 1997 draft class was yet another draft class used to bring in vets. Sure Mark Parrish and Roman Hamrlik were good players, but so were the guys they gave up. One, Luongo, could very well end up in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The Bad
1990-One Pick Away
Total games played: 183
Biggest impact: Dan Plante
With the sixth overall pick at the 1990 draft, the Islanders selected Scott Scissons. A player that would only play two NHL games over his career. To be fair injuries played an unfortunate role in Scissons career.
Two games played looks worse when the player drafted just before him with the fifth overall pick would play 1,733 NHL games and score 1,921 points in Jaromir Jagr.
There were six other players drafted in the first round after the Islanders went up to the podium who would play 1,000 or more games in the NHL.
1994 – Eleventh Round
Total games played: 200
Biggest impact: Dick Tarnstrom
The 1994 draft was yet another one that would be defined by injuries. With the ninth overall pick at the draft, the New York Islanders selected Brett Lindros. Lindros would play 51 games in the NHL before he ended his career following a number of concussions.
The biggest impact on the club came from eleventh round pick Dick Tarnstrom who played 62 games for the Islanders in 2001-02 scoring 19 points
1996 – Big Z
Total games played: 273
Biggest impact: Zdeno Chara
Thanks to scout and member of the Core of the Four teams Anders Kallur, the Islanders drafted big Czech defenseman Zdeno Chara with the 56th overall pick.
Unfortunately, Chara would be traded to the Senators in the Alexei Yashin deal. But not before he recorded 231 games for the Isles. Chara accounts for most of the games played for the Islanders 1996 draft class.
1992 – Few Hits
Total games played: 337
Biggest impact: Darius Kasparaitis
With the fifth overall pick in 1992, the Isles selected Darius Kasparaitis. With 232 games played with the Isles before being traded to Pittsburgh, Kasparaitis had a big impact on the Isles.
He wouldn’t put up a ton of points, but he could control the blue line or make the opponent pay if they crossed it. Making him a fan favorite in the process.
The Good
1993 – Value
Total games played: 659
Biggest impact: Bryan McCabe
The 1993 draft saw the Isles get a decent amount of value out of their picks. From the first round to the seventh round, the Islanders selected a player that would eventually make the NHL. While some never played for the Isles, most did.
With 220 games played for the Blue and Orange, Bryan McCabe had the largest impact on the club. Goalie Tommy Salo wasn’t too far behind with 187 games played with the Islanders.
1999 – The Four
Total games played: 1,015
Biggest impact: Radek Martinek
The Islanders had four first-round picks in 1999. You’d think by that alone the Isles would have a great draft class in 1999. But they didn’t. All four – Tim Connolly, Taylor Pyatt, Branislav Mezei, Kristian Kudroc – would combine for 308 games.
Eighth round pick Radek Martinek would play 479 games with the Islanders.
1991 – Palffy Class
Total games played: 860
Biggest impact: Ziggy Palffy
Look, I know the class of 1999 played 155 more games than the class of 1991. But with four first-round picks, three in the top ten, the impact should have been greater.
Scott Lachance drafted fourth overall in 1991 by the Isles, would play the most games for the New York Islanders. But Ziggy Palffy had the largest impact with 331 games and 331 points. Point-per-game players don’t grow on trees.
It’s a shame that he was eventually traded away instead of trying to build a winner around him. What could have been, right?