A surprise player near the top of the NY Islanders' prospect rankings

Unsurprisingly, the NY Islanders have been ranked near the bottom of the league in terms of their prospect pool. Until this summer, the Islanders were without a first-round pick since 2019 when they selected Simon Holmstrom 23rd overall. 

Last year, Corey Pronman of The Athletic ranked the Islanders’ prospect pool 30th overall. With his newest rankings beginning to roll out today, the Isles saw a five-place improvement and are now ranked 25th.

Having three draft picks within the first two rounds of the 2024 NHL Draft certainly helped the Islanders immensely, with Cole Eiserman, drafted 20th overall, immediately becoming the organization's top prospect.

Marcus Gidlöf ranked as the second-best Islanders prospect

Despite drafting Jesse Pulkkinen and Kamil Bednarik in the second round this summer, and Danny Nelson 49th overall in 2023, Pronman ranked goaltender Marcus Gidlöf as the Islanders' number two prospect. 

Gidlöf, selected in the 5th round (147th overall) this summer, was the second goaltender selected by the Islanders, yet ranked higher than Dmitri Gamzin, selected a round earlier.

Gidlöf is a 6’6” netminder playing for Leksands in Sweden, taken as the 17th goaltender selected in the draft. With it being extremely difficult to scout 18-year-old goalies who don’t make an impact in the NHL until years later, goalie rankings are typically all over the map. Steve. Ellis of Daily Faceoff had Gidlöf ranked as his top goaltender heading into the draft, while other outlets had him outside the top 10.

With the selections of Gidlöf and Gamzin, the Islanders have added to their goaltending depth within the organization - a necessity heading into the Draft. 

As we’ve seen with Yaroslav Askarov, 22, who was recently traded to the San Jose Sharks, even the best prospects take years to develop. There’s hope that once Gildlöf reaches his twenties he’ll be able to make some sort of impact in the NHL. Coincidentally, this will be around the time Semyon Valamov’s contract is set to expire.