NY Islanders bet on potential and upside with fourth round pick Vladimir Dravecky

By the time the New York Islanders were going to pick again, when the fourth round of the NHL Draft rolled around on Saturday, Mathieu Darche wasn't interested in playing it safe.

The Islanders general manager told the media afterward that he gave his scouting staff a pretty straightforward directive once the draft reached the middle rounds and that was to focus on the players that had upside.

"He's a high skill, high ceiling," Darche said when discussing defenseman Vladimir Dravecky, whom the Islanders selected in the fourth round. "I told the scouts at that point, when you're getting to the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh round, let's go with higher ceiling guys."

Based on some quick homework after the pick, Dravecky certainly appears to fit that description.

The right-shot defenseman spent last season split between the Brantford Bulldogs and Guelph Storm of the OHL after being moved at the trade deadline. Darche mentioned that Guelph is hosting the Memorial Cup next season so they know Dravecky will get that experience next season.

"He's a highly skilled player," Darche said. "He got traded out of Brantford because they made a push for the Memorial Cup. They had a real strong team."

Darche's due diligence didn't stop with his own scouting department, either.

"I actually texted Jay a few picks before we picked him," Darche said, referring to Hamilton Hammers head coach Jay McKee, who coached Dravecky in the OHL. "And a couple other OHL GMs just to get, you know, we do our due diligence."

The feedback apparently reinforced what the Islanders already believed about his upside.

"He's a high ceiling guy, high skill," Darche said. "Does he have to learn to play defense? Yeah. But there's not one player in this draft that's getting drafted that has something to work on."

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