With the dawning of a new era, the NY Islanders embark on a truly unusual season

A draft to remember and gone are the seven-year contract extensions...mostly

Going into Draft Day, there were three clear-cut options for the Islanders picking, but part of me was expecting the much-loved Gary Bettman to announce they had selected an undersized forward from Estonia with plenty of upside. But before getting to the extremely awkward "Live Draft", Noah Dobson was dealt for NHL-ready F Emil Heineman AND two 2025 1st Round picks. Going into the Draft, Darche made the right move and selected the number one overall consensus pick in Matthew Schaefer, a franchise defenseman along the lines of Cale Makar or Miro Heiskanen. With the 16th and 17th picks, they added F Victor Eklund and D Kashawn Aitcheson. Two studs that fell to them as they were projected as being drafted higher. They weren't done yet either. With the 2nd round pick, they chose Daniil Prokhorov, a 6'6" beast from Russia and my future favorite player. According to Elite Prospects, Daniil Prokhorov plays the game like he’s trying to leave a mark — literally. There is no player as violent and eager to throw huge hits. He sprints at opponents, seeing red the whole time, and looks to level them. His offence comes from fighting, battling off defenders behind the net to work his way around to the netfront.

After a tremendously successful draft, Darche got to work with free agency, where he made a splash signing F Jonathan Drouin to a two-year deal. He re-signed those we needed to manageable, short-term deals, with the exception of Alex Romanov, who signed an eight-year, well-deserved contract. He got Tony DeAngelo to re-up for another season, signed another well-thought-of Russian forward, Maxim Shabanov, and chopped the dead wood from the minor league system. Then, miraculously, he signed Matthew Schaefer and Victor Eklund to entry-level contracts. This paves the way for Schaefer to start the season with the Islanders, as there isn't any competition for the defenseman in either Juniors or the NCAA for the 17-year-old. Not to mention the fact that the Islanders have Cal Ritchie, Cole Eiserman, and Danny Nelson waiting in the wings for their shot.

Finally, the future is bright and even a Taylor Swift nod?

It seems the Islanders have finally turned that proverbial corner and have a bright future ahead of them. With a prospect pool ranked in the bottom for years, it has catapulted to near the very top. I was even shocked when I did my daily Islanders search on Google and saw that they came up in reference to Taylor Swift and her new album release, with a Swiftie-themed sparkly logo. This is the Islanders that fans have waited decades for and truly deserve.