New York Islanders stun NHL with draft day dominance. Is a prospect-fueled resurgence on the horizon? Gil Martin breaks down the Islanders’ impressive draft performance, highlighting their three first-round picks and strategy to become tougher to play against.
The discussion covers JG Pageau trade rumors, Alexander Romanov’s potential contract extension, and how GM Matthew Darche’s moves are reshaping the team’s future. Key topics include the Isles’ prospect pool improvements, upcoming challenges in player retention, and potential trade targets to watch.
Martin offers insider perspectives on the team’s direction and roster decisions. Don’t miss this in-depth analysis of the New York Islanders’ path back to contention. Will their draft day success translate to on-ice dominance?
All this and more on today’s Locked On Islanders Podcast with Gil Martin
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34 Comments
It happens every draft. The team with the top pick usually has multiple firsts and usually gets a nice draft haul and wins the draft. And you notice cats, tb, laffs, oil, avs, stars didn't have a first round pick? And pens, flyers, hawks, preds, sj, flames, as well as isles had 2-3 first round picks. That's the nhl today-drafting is of upmost importance. And the more higher up picks a team can get the better the odds of landing some players is. So i wont get excited about this draft until i see results 3-4 years from now. And to pass on a much needed scorer will come back to bite isles in the ass. And this 'draft haul' should boost isles system up to middle of the pack. Still not the top system like milbury had in late '90's. And this 'draft win' only made possible thanks to the lottery luck isles got because without the win isles are picking 10 and even with the 8 trade don't get their next 5 at 10.
AITCHSON WILL BE AMAZING. AS SOON AS THEY TOOK HIM AND I SAW HIS STATS I KNEW ISLANDERS STOLE A GOOD HOCKEY PLAYER
I follow the islanders future players in the drafts and there prospects that will come up in a Few years and they have the best guys in the nhl
Aitchson skating is suspect . His positionsl play his awful. Frequently abandons his side of the ice that he is responsible, if he can't play the body he doesn't play the puck. Frequently plays himself out of position to go after open ice hit. Very low hockey iq. Exclusively drops the gloves to fight smaller player. His tough guy persona is very performative.on the positive side he plays with aggression, heavy shot which is accurate with quick release. When the play comes directly to him he can be sound defensively sound. Many scouts believe his future is as a power forward. Eklund on the other hand has the possibility to be the best forward taken in the draft. Top straight line speed , north south game with physicality, great shot and passing and vision. His game is ready for nhl. However he is 158 lbs which is a major concern
Some possible moves coming as Mayfield is being shopped as likely expected. Also rumors persist around Kyrou being traded and Islanders listed as a possible destination. Blues are looking for a center for the second line. As we saw Darche calling out corner stone players doesn’t mean they can’t be traded. Obviously all attention shifts to Barzal. Barzal a center his whole life then tossed to Right Wing. Does he really want to play right wing? My guess is No! Barzal has a Partial NTC! My guess is The Blues is a team he would go too. If we have no intention of moving Barzal back to center where he likes to play there is a chance a Barzal for Kyrou trade makes sense. Could be a few interesting days before free agency! I don’t think Darche is done. And yes I would make the deal Barzal for Kyrou..
I was at the Draft Party. Once I saw JG on stage I figured he was not going to be traded. At least not now.
Let’s hope it’s the draft haul knowing the islanders luck they will all turn out to be busts 😭
While it would have been nice to get Hagens, I'm glad the Islanders showed restraint. Hagens went to a team that was probably his second choice after the Islanders being that he plays for Boston College. In the draft we got younger, faster and tougher. I can see Kayshawn down the road playing with Schaefer as protector given his hard-hitting style. He's got some offensive upside, as well.
Dude, drink some water… you look like you struggle to swallow lol
Excellent Great Job by the GM, I can’t even imagine going through this with Lamarillo would have destroyed this draft, thanks Gil LGI 💪🏼👍🏼
This kid scheafer had me balling when he got picked and saw the ribbon on his jersey i couldn't keep it together at all no matter how hard I tried welcome to long island scheafer it's a wonderful place it truly is
I think Romy will get 5.75….. let’s see…
Mathieu Darche is a breath of long awaited fresh air. He's off to a great start with his draft picks. There is a new optimism amongst Islander fans. Also, today is Lou's last day, thank you for bringing the organization back to respectability!
fellow Islanders fans remember drafting Dal Collie and the team could have had Nylander or Ehlers. Remember drafting Niederriter in 2010, could have had Tarasanko,,,Oh and 2003 we get Nilsson could have had Parise or Getzlaf. My point is they do not always get it right…Here In my opinion they should have picked Misa…i believe they will regret it in the very near future..
Gil, very good analysis and points 👉 😊🤛
Spot on, Gil ! After inheriting quite a mess from Lou Lamoriello, Mathieu Darche did an impressive job navigating his first draft as Islanders GM. From selecting top prospect Matthew Schaefer to making smart picks throughout the later rounds, he’s laid a solid foundation. I’m genuinely optimistic about the direction this team is heading. LGI
Good 🌄, Gil. How are you? Matheiu Darche did a fine job in his 1st year of GM. I 👀 Matthew Schaffer or GMA, yesterday, and the kid knows how to handle himself on national 📺. Victor Eklund and Kaishaun Aitcheson and the rest of the kids all have high competve level. Another good thing that came out of the Noah Dobson trade is SOME CAP SPACE. For once, Bill Torrey is 😃 in his grave, NOT TURNING IN IT. JG Pageout trade rumors have been squashed for now. You're right, Gil, the Islanders can deny it until it ❄️ in 😈, the draft is not about this year, but miracles can happen. Next years draft is going to be deep. Alexander Romanov is now an RFA. What's it gonna cost the Islanders to keep him remains to be seen. The Islanders resigned Liam Fouty and Gauthier. HAPPY 🎂, DOUG CROSSMAN. He scored goals and 2 helpers on a tie with the Bruins. Hear from you later, Gil. ⏲️ to watch Trots skin the Flyers alive. Now, LET'S GO ISLANDERS.
Growing up in the Kasparitis, Palffy, McCabe, K.Jonsson era, it just feels 'right' & 'normal' to be back w/ an exciting prospect pool. From pick 10 on I was praying that Eklund & Aitcheson fell to us. So happy! Aitcheson reminds me of Kaspar(who actually was an Off DMan pre-Draft) The Isles havent had an Eklund type since who? Tonelli? Lol. This Draft proves what a great GM M.Darche is.
Gil do not mention Casey and Mclean as NHL players, one should not be in the NHL and the other should have retired years ago….
Good morning team! Gil, thank you for all the up to date information on the draft. I also agree with the experts. This draft seems, on the surface, to be an excellent one for us. As you probably know, I'm a wait and see kind of guy. How does everyone feed off each other on the ice and is there chemistry. I just wonder what Lou would have done. I'm truly grateful he isn't our GM any longer. Question for you.. how long do you think it takes for the Islanders to become the Lightning, playing at their best? Everyone, have a great day! See you all again tomorrow. Until then.. Let's Go Islanders!!
I'm hoping they're talking up Atchieson so they could include him in a trade package. If he and Eklund were elite they would have been taken earlier. Remember, this was not a stacked draft class. At best these two would have been picked in the second round if it were the 2026 draft. At best Atchieson will be a bottom pair d man, who is more prone to drop the gloves instead of cleaning up in front of our goalie. We shall see.
Darche had a good draft, disappointing that they wanna keep JGP as of right now. Maybe the offers aren’t great for him. I really hope we continue to build for the future. Would be great to have another top 5 prospect added to pool next season.
Hi Gil – good points! I may be a little optimistic here, but I think this team could make some more moves that could be addition by subtraction. If you can get a good package for Pageau, I would do it now and not risk injury or bad on ice performance to affect trade value. I'm also curious: did you have this podcast in the summer before the 2018-2019 season. I feel as though the NYI had a worse team post the Tavares decision and managed to compete. They also have a much better prospect pool now then at that point, so I am wondering what you think. The only way I see the team acquiring additional valuable draft capital is through the subtraction Horvat or Barzal. If you listen to EDM fans, they think Darche will just give away Sorokin (they need to have their heads examined).
Resign dangelo and reilly romanov would like to se a beau reunion play him on bottom 6 role
The clickbait drama with the title is not becoming of you, now you're just like everybody else
Pageau is good as gone this year in his final year. In addition, I wasn’t concerned with the isles being ranked last with prospects bc we had quality players to trade into draft picks. If Ritchie can hold his own, it might make pageau expendable. Ritchie projected as a 2nd line center, but can see him in the bottom 6 as a rookie. It wouldn’t be the worst thing having a bad 2026 season. We can have a chance for McKenna.
Sam Bennett won the conn smythe and settled at 8 per for 8. Looks like teams aren’t going to be throwing money at Mitch Marner
Romanov 8 years at 6.25. A little high but worth it. At 5.5 would have been closer to what I would do.
I loved Crossman great puck skills. Wish we had a player like that now he would help our pp.
Give Matty S the 9 game trail and send him back to Erie😊 love the show as always
I'm thrilled that Romanov will be patrolling the Islanders blue line, and taking out the trash in front of the net, for the next 8 years, at a team friendly $6.5 million per year. No overpay for Dobson (bye bye) and a fair contract for my favorite NY Islander Alexander Romanov. Can we survive this upcoming season with: Romanov/DeAngelo, Pelech/Pulock, and Reilly/Boqvist? I believe the answer is yes. Perunovich and Mayfield rotating in as the 7th D man will suffice. Although the guy from Florida on D would be nice, as would bringing in Boeser to play with Barzal and Horvat. The question is, do we have enough money to bring both in and will they be reasonable in their contract demands for term and $ amount? Probably not.
Finally some massive optimism… Like you said not a quick fix but a step in the right direction. Thanks Gil!
Is Sam Bennett worth more than Aaron Ekblad? Bennett received $8 million per, whereas Ekblad took a discount of over $6 million. Somebody help me out with this one.
Gil! What do you think of Bridgeport possibly losing the Islanders to Hamilton, ON?