NY Islanders: Trading up for Brock Nelson illustrated the importance of draft capital

At the 2010 NHL Draft, the New York Islanders had the 5th pick in the draft and selected Nino Niederreiter after another underwhelming and rebuilding season. If you can put aside how the Isles adversely impacted his development by playing him with fourth-liners and then sent him to Minnesota for Cal Clutterbuck in 2013, it was a sold pick by Garth Snow. Niederreiter has played in 810 NHL games, scoring 205 goals and 204 assists for five organizations over 12 seasons.

But it's the move that happened at the very end of the first round that has continued to pay dividends for the Islanders 13 years later. The Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks owned the 30th and final pick of the first round. That's when Snow packaged two second-round picks, 35th and 58th overall, to move up to No. 30 and select Brock Nelson, a center for Warroad H.S. in Minnesota.

Nelson was headed to the University of North Dakota after being a finalist for the Mr. Hockey Award as Minnesota’s top high school hockey player and was the nephew of former NHL player and 1980 Team USA member Dave Christian. Those are some good hockey roots. The pick, the 11th US-born player rafted that day (a record), was announced by Entourage star Kevin Connolly.

Next: How did the Islanders have the assets to trade up for Nelson?