3 times the NY Islanders traded a draft pick for a player's negotiating rights

D Christian Ehrhoff - Vancouver Canucks

On June 28, 2011, Snow traded a fourth-round pick in the 2012 NHL Draft to the Vancouver Canucks for top-pair defenseman Christian Ehrhoff. The Isles blueline was led by Andrew MacDonald and James Wisniewski and desperately needed help after allowing 255 goals against the previous season, the third-worst mark in the NHL. Ehrhoff was coming off a 50-point season with the Canucks, scoring 14 goals and adding 36 assists heading into free agency.

The problem was Ehrhoff had no interest in playing on Long Island. Snow reportedly made the defenseman a sizeable offer, but a little more than 24-hours after making the trade for his rights, Snow was able to flip those same rights to the Buffalo Sabres for a 4th-rounder in 2012.

The gamble cost the Islanders eight draft slots, going from 95 to 103. The 95th selection overall ended up being Montreal's Josh Anderson, who has scored 20+ goals multiple times in his NHL career while the Islanders selected Loïc Leduc, who never made it further than Bridgeport.

Ehrhoff ended up signing a monster 10-year, $40 million dollar contract with the Sabres. He would fail to live up to expectations and ended up playing just three seasons in Buffalo, who bought out the remaining years of his contract after the 2013-14 season.