Michael Misa could save the Islanders from a free agency disaster

You know by now that I’m 100 percent for seeing the New York Islanders snag Michael Misa on draft day. Misa’s a future franchise centerpiece, and one who can end up in the top six the moment he’s wearing a blue and orange sweater. 

I’ll have my gripes, but I’m not opposed to drafting Matthew Schaefer. The blueliner and the CHL’s top prospect will help the Isles out offensively. But adding someone like Misa will, in little time, take the Isles up another notch throughout the 2025-26 season. 

And I’d much rather see that than watch the Isles take Schaefer and then go after a top-six forward in free agency. 

One reason is simple: I don’t like what I’m seeing in this year’s class. Mitch Marner’s the prize, and John Tavares is the No. 2 guy. But he’s way on the back end of his career, and I doubt anyone on Long Island really wants him back, anyway, even if about seven years have passed.

Michael Misa would add a new, young dimension to the Islanders

If the Isles draft Misa, they’re getting younger at forward, and they still have a pair of young defensemen like Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov, who aren’t going anywhere. While the Isles surely need more on their blue line, the forward class in free agency is either too expensive, too old, or players about to leave or have left their prime. 

No, that’s not necessarily enticing. Other than Brock Boeser and Sam Bennett, and maybe Nikolaj Ehlers, there’s really nobody I’d be interested in going after. It gives me another reason to endorse Misa over Schaefer, unless the Isles zeroed in on Boeser or Bennett. If they draft Schaefer and intended to sign one of those two, I’d feel a bit better about the situation. 

Even if that were the case, I’d still be cautiously optimistic, at most. How many more years do Boeser and Bennett have in their respective primes? They’ll be 28 and 29 years old when October 2025 rolls around. 

And if the Isles looked like a team closer to playoff contention, I’d be a little more optimistic in a situation like that. But the truth is, they’re not. They need players who can put up big numbers offensively and a few of them. Right now, they have Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat, and that’s it. 

The ideal situation for the Islanders this summer…

Draft Michael Misa No.1 overall, and let the San Jose Sharks roll with Matthew Schaefer. Re-sign Dobson and Romanov, keep Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech around, and beef up the third pairing. That will take you further this season, especially if Dobson returns to a form that we didn’t see last season. 

And remember, there’s still Calum Ritchie and Cole Eiserman skating up through the ranks, which would give the Isles a trio of young scorers that they didn’t have in 2024-25. Misa would be here this season, and Ritchie should make the jump, while Eiserman comes in at a later date. 

That would set the stage for and Islanders team with legitimate offensive firepower, and it’s something they’ve lacked for far too long. This season, they have a chance to get it right.

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