NY Islanders GM explains why taking Malte Gustafsson was ultimately an easy decision

In the end, after all the internal debate and discussion, when it came time for Mathieu Darche and the New York Islanders to make their pick in the first round of the NHL Draft on Friday night, he didn't spend much time talking about organizational need, positional depth charts or timelines.

Instead, the Islanders general manager stuck to what he says is the philosophy of every successful drafting organization in hockey.

Take the best player available.

That's exactly what Darche believes the Islanders did when they selected Swedish defenseman Malte Gustafsson with the 13th overall pick.

"What made him an attractive pick for us, you know, the good draft teams around the league, the strategy is always take the best player available," Darche said during his media availability following the first round. "Malte is actually 6-foot-4 and a half, if not 6-foot-5, over 200 pounds, very strong skater for his size, moves the puck, plays physical, hard to play against."

For Islanders fans who may have been hoping for a forward, particularly with several bigger forwards still available when the Isles were on the clock, Darche revealed there was plenty of internal debate in the draft room. And it was those debates that ultimately reinforced the organization's belief that Gustafsson was the right choice.

"It's funny because we debated with a few of our scouts about some of the big forwards," Darche said. "There were quite a few big forwards around there and they're all saying Malte is the guy that stops those guys."

While Gustafsson may never become the flashy, point-producing defenseman that Matthew Schaefer already is, the Islanders clearly see him as something equally valuable: a big, mobile, physical defenseman capable of shutting down the types of players every team spends years trying to find.

"You can never have enough defensemen, good defensemen," Darche added.

Rosters and needs change year over year, which is why the Islanders front office didn't fret over having two many LHD. If they have an abundance of riches on the blueline in a few years, it'll be a good problem to have and depth that can help them improve in other ways.

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