NY Islanders Top 5 prospect rankings is radically different from last season

What a difference a year makes.

The New York Islanders prospect pool has been universally panned in recent years. It often ranks in the bottom five and even came in 32nd of 32 NHL teams in some rankings last year. The 2024 NHL Draft changed that, as GM Lou Lamoriello made a first-round pick for the first time since 2019 and selected Cole Eiserman, arguably the best scorer in the draft, with the 20th overall pick after trading down two spots for an extra second-round pick from the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Islanders are now moving up prospect rankings, and with that, there's been a dramatic reshuffling of their consensus top prospects going into next season. On Sunday, as part of their 32 in 32 series, NHL.com put out a series of articles on the Islanders, including listing the team's top five prospects. The list is radically different from one year ago.

NY Islanders Top 5 prospect rankings is radically different from last season

The rankings, completed by NHL staff writer Jon Lane for the second consecutive year, have only one player on the 2023 and 2024 lists. That's William Dufour, who Lane had listed as the team's top prospect ahead of the 2023-24 season. Dufour dropped to third overall in the 2024 list after having an inconsistent season in Bridgeport and not being an option for a call-up at any point last season.

"This will be his third-year pro [season], and I think he's in position to grow, to continue to apply that education that he's absorbed," Bridgeport GM Chris Lamoriello told NHL.com. "Then it's his talent. He has to trust his talent. Then it's timing, it's chemistry. Hopefully, this will be a year in which he can have another layer of growth. I think he's very much in the middle of it."

The top spot now belongs to Eiserman, while his teammate, 18-year-old Kamil Bednarik comes in as the No. 2 overall prospect. The US National Development Program players are both on their way to Boston University before they are hopefully on their way to Bridgeport and then Long Island.

Defenseman Samuel Bolduc qualified as a prospect last season and was ranked third in 2023. After spending last season as the team's 7th defenseman most of the year, Bolduc is no longer list-eligible and is expected to be in a similar spot to start next season. Matthew Maggio, the OHL's Most Outstanding player during the 2022-23 season, dropped out of the top five after being ranked 2nd in the 2023 list. Also no longer on the prospect list is Ruslan Iskhakov, who, after making his NHL in the regular-season finale and skating in a playoff game, signed a contract with the KHL after not seeing a clear path to an NHL roster spot this season.

Also no longer on the list is Quinn Finley, who had 10 goals at Wisconsin last season and will be playing outdoors for his college at Wrigley Field this season. He's still a top 10 Isles' prospect, but didn't break the NHL.com top-five.

There are two newcomers on the list this season.

The first is 2023 second-round pick Danny Nelson, who was ranked fourth. Nelson was a freshman at Notre Dame last season and finished third on the Fighting Irish in points. He also was part of the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship US team that captured gold. Finally, ranking fifth is defenseman Isaiah George, who, after a stellar OHL season, is turning pro at 20 years old and will start the season in Bridgeport. George impressed at last season's training camp, and there's excitement around seeing what he'll now look like this September in Patrick Roy's camp.