Grading the previous four NY Islanders top overall draft picks in team history

Let’s be real—picking first overall should be a game-changer. But for New York Islanders fans, that’s been a bit of a mixed bag. Sometimes you land a Hall of Famer. Sometimes… you end up with a buyout legend. The Isles have held the first overall pick four times in their history, with 2025 being the fifth. The past results show that it's no guarantee to alter the course of the franchise, but it could.

Let's hope Matthew Schaefer or whoever they pick first overall on Friday night ends up somewhere around where Denis Potvin landed. Here's how we graded each of the prior four top picks overall, from worst to first, in Islanders history.

Rick DiPietro (2000) — Grade: D

Sigh. This one still hurts, and I loved Rick DiPietro, but you have to put the totality of this pick and what transpired before and after when providing a grade. The Isles took DiPietro three years after they drafted Roberto Luongo fourth overall. What did they do? Traded Luongo and bet the future on DiPietro. It looked okay for a few years—he had five straight seasons with 50+ starts and even cracked the top 10 in Vezina voting in 2007.

But then came the injuries… and that contract. You know the one—15 years, $67.5 million. The Isles were still buying him out years after he retired. When healthy, he was decent. But you don’t use the first overall pick for “decent.” Especially when Luongo turned into a surefire Hall of Famer.

Billy Harris (1972) — Grade: B

The Isles’ first-ever draft pick—and honestly, a solid one. Harris was a dependable top-six forward for the better part of a decade, putting up multiple 60+ point seasons and never missing a game in his time on Long Island. He didn’t get a Cup, but he did get traded for Butch Goring in 1980—a move that brought back the final piece of the puzzle and a dynasty. So, in a way, he helped win four Cups without actually being there for them.

John Tavares (2009) — Grade: A-

Okay, I know this is still a sore subject. I get it. JT left; he strung us along; he chose the pajamas. But if you can take the emotion out of it (I know, I know), Tavares was everything you could ask for on the ice. He led, he produced (621 points in 669 games), and he gave us a great post-dynasty moment—that double OT winner to finally win a playoff series. Tavares was the team captain from 2013-14 before his signing with Toronto in the summer of 2018.

He also dragged some awful rosters into relevance. He may not be remembered fondly now, and perhaps not ever, but there's no questioning that Tavares was the right pick at No. 1 for the team. He's a future Hall-of-Famer, even if there's a close to zero chance that he gets an applause at UBS Arena in the future.

Denis Potvin (1973) — Grade: A+

This one’s easy. Potvin was a generational defenseman. From the jump, he was elite—54 points as a rookie, Norris winner by year three. He was the backbone of four straight Cups and is still one of the highest-scoring D-men ever. He was physical, smart, and clutch. He’s everything you’d want in a number one pick, and he’s got the hardware (and Hall of Fame plaque) to prove it.

Potvin was a three-time winner of the Norris Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s top defenseman, and a nine-time All-Star. At the time of his retirement in 1988, Potvin held NHL records for a defenseman in goals (310), assists (742), and points (1,052). Potvin was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1991, and his No. 5 was the first to be retired by the Islanders on February 1, 1992.