Words of Warning: The 1999 NHL Entry Draft

If you're an Islanders fan, you're pretty excited about this year's draft. You've got the first overall pick. Then, you have the 26th, the 31st, the 37th, and the 56th. Not a bad showing for the first-round, eh? You'd have to go back to 1999 to find a better prepared Islanders team in terms of draft picks in the first two rounds.

In 1999, the Islanders had four first-round picks. They had #5, #8, #10, and #28. This, coupled with the 1997 draft which saw the Isles draft Roberto Luongo at #4 and Eric Brewer at #5, should have been the start of big things for the Islanders. After all, according the Wikipedia, the 1999 draft was "considered one of the deepest in talent in years"... something that sounds pretty similar to what people are saying about this year's draft. Pay attention.

With the #5 pick, the Islanders selected Tim Connolly, the center of the future. Since the Isles had virtually no other talent to speak of, Connolly was immediately placed on the first line. This was a lot for the young Connolly to take, especially with the lofty expectations placed upon him. Connolly ended up totaling 75 points in his two years as an Islander, missing just one game over those two seasons. He was dealt to Buffalo as part of the Michael Peca trade; Connolly was still a 20-year-old future star at the time. He has only recently begun to reach his potential, though this high level of play has been tempered by constant injury.

At #8, the Islanders took Taylor Pyatt. Pyatt was considered to be more of a two-way player than Connolly, but still had potential as a scorer. Pyatt only played one year with the Islanders before being shipped to Buffalo in the Peca deal. Pyatt has since recorded years with 23 goals and 16 goals in Vancouver. He never became a great two-way player as many suggested he might, but he remains a solid NHL player who is in the lineup each night.

The 10th pick in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft was defenseman Branislav Mezei. Mezei scored exactly two goals in the Islanders organization - one in Bridgeport, and one on the big club. While it's worth noting that the Islanders didn't draft Mezei - he was drafted by Montreal - they should be scolded for trading then-captain Trevor Linden straight-up for Mezei. They were able to dump Mezei off to Florida for Jason Wiemer, but that's not saying a whole lot.

Kristian Kudroc was drafted at #28 by Dallas, but ended up on the Islanders as a result of a draft day trade. His biggest contribution to the team was being part of the package sent to Tampa Bay for Raffi Torres at the 2000 NHL Entry Draft.

Four first-round picks. A total of four seasons played by these four men. Wow.

It's worth noting that the 1999 NHL Entry Draft might have been the worst draft in NHL history. The first round has produced, to date, exactly three All-Star seasons - one each by Nick Boynton, Martin Havlat, and Henrik Sedin. The top ten featured such busts as Patrik Stefan, Pavel Brendl, Jamie Lundmark, and Kris Beech. In fact, the only truly notable players picked were Ryan Miller (fifth round) and Henrik Zetterberg (seventh round).

You'd think the 2009 draft couldn't possibly be this bad, right? Well, you never know. After all, the only real way to determine a player's worth is to see him play in the NHL. At this point, none of the big names have proven anything aside from the ability to dominate inferior competition. So don't get too frazzled about who the Islanders pick, because we truly know nothing about him right now. In other words, John Tavares might be the savior of the New York Islanders... or he could be the next Patrik Stefan.

RE: An Open Letter To Bryan...

Zach,

Thank you for your proposal. I have reviewed it carefully, and I would like to share with you the thought process that went into my response.

I first thought about what it would be like to be a Ranger fan. Quite honestly, it must be so easy. It must be nice to have ownership with deep pockets that can nab any free agent they want to. It must be nice to play in the self-proclaimed "World's Most Famous Arena". It must be nice to have the talent the Rangers have, with the knowledge that there will always be quality players coming to play for the Rangers. It must be nice to be part of a large fanbase that sells out every game, even if the team is having an off year.

It's just not for me.

Zach, you know better than anybody that I'm one of the most realistic Islander fans out there. I get it. I realize that the Rangers have a very important role in the overall welfare of the NHL, and I'm more than willing to see the Rangers at the top of the league because it only means good things for the game of hockey. Selfishly, I root for a strong Rangers team because it makes for a better rivalry, but there's also a greater good involved. For example, after the Islanders were eliminated from last year's playoffs, I was pulling for the Rangers. Why? Because I believed a deep playoff run by the Rangers would have done a world of publicity for the league. Can you imagine how bigger of a deal Rangers-Red Wings would have been than Senators-Ducks? It would have put hockey on the map big-time in some very important media markets. I also thought very strongly that the NHL should have rigged the 2005 Draft Lottery so that the Rangers would end up with Sidney Crosby. Come to think of it, I'm still disappointed that they didn't. Crosby in New York would have given the NHL their best chance at mainstream acceptance since Gretzky was traded to the Kings.

So yeah, I see the many positives in being a Ranger fan. They're one of those teams that the NHL needs to be good in order for the league to thrive. Being a part of that must be fun. But for all of their top-tier talent and weekly NBC games and all of the things that come with the New York Rangers, the team still hasn't seen a conference final since Messier and Gretzky led them there in 1997. And how, my friend, do you explain that?

Let's take a walk back through the years and look at all the talent the Rangers brought in after that season - the last time the Rangers made the playoffs since the lockout. Pat LaFontaine. Kevin Stevens. Mathieu Schneider. Crackhead Theo. Eric Lindros. Pavel Bure. With the exception of Stevens, who was never the same after the '93 playoffs, these guys could all end up in the Hall Of Fame someday. Somehow, none of these guys could get the Rangers anywhere near the playoffs. I'm trying to avoid the ridiculous free agent signings like Bobby Holik and Darius Kasparaitis, not to mention the ill-fated trades for Alexei Kovalev and Tom Poti.

You called out the Islanders for their draft record, and there's no denying that the Isles let a ton of future superstars get away. That sort of thing happens when your owners either don't actually have money or restrict the team to a $15 million payroll. I'll also admit that the Islanders were no place for young players to develop their games, as they were routinely pushed into the NHL too early and given far too much responsibility. And the Islanders haven't exactly been picking like aces since their resurgence in 2002.

But what about the Rangers? Just for fun, let's look at the first-round picks the Rangers have made since 1998, which was their first year out of the playoff since '94.
- 1998: Manny Malhotra (7th overall). Missed out on Alex Tanguay (12), Simon Gagne (22), Scott Gomez (27), Jonathan Cheechoo (29), Mike Fisher (44), Mike Ribeiro (45).
- 1999: Pavel Brendl (4th overall) and Jamie Lundmark (9th overall). Missed out on Barret Jackman (17) and Martin Havlat (26). Note that Marc Savard was packaged with the 11th overall pick to move up two spots to take Lundmark.
- 2000: No draft pick. Pick was given up as part of the deal to move up and draft Pavel Brendl in 1999.
- 2001: Dan Blackburn (10th overall). Missed out on Alex Hemsky (13) and Colby Armstrong (21).
- 2002: No draft pick. Pick was given up as part of the deal to acquire Pavel Bure.
- 2003: Hugh Jessiman (12th overall). Missed out on Steve Bernier (16), Zach Parise (17), Ryan Getzlaf (19), Mike Richards (24), Corey Perry (28).

Now, these were some pretty horrendous drafts. In fact, just about all of them were awful, with the exceptions being 1998, 2000, and 2003. Still, with all of those premium picks, they couldn't have done any better? Granted, the Rangers have drafted extremely well in the later rounds - Nigel Dawes (5th round, 2003), Petr Prucha, (8th round, 2002), Ryan Hollweg (8th round, 2001), Henrik Lundqvist (7th round, 2000) - but those first round picks hold a ton of value, and it's awful that Manny Malhotra was the best the Rangers could do. Everyone loves to talk about Blackburn, but he had a GAA over 3.00 and a save percentage below .900 in the Dead Puck Era. Hell, Brendl never even played for the Rangers! And Jessiman has all the makings of a career minor leaguer.

The Rangers have made dramatic improvements since bringing Tom Renney aboard and rebuilding the right way. They truly are a model organization today. They draft well, they promote from within, and they sign the right guys through free agency. And Ranger fans, you've earned it. If you stuck within this team through thick and thin, then you deserve the right to root for a perennial playoff team. Again, it must be nice. I wouldn't know about that.

A lot of Ranger fans bash the Islanders and their fans for living in the past. Well, when the past is all you have, what else are you going to do? Like I said, I'm a realist. That said, I have hope for a brighter future. I refuse that the Islanders are going to have a twenty-year span where the biggest highlight was taking Toronto to seven games in 2002. If anything, Zach, your team has shown me that it's possible to come out of nowhere and be a force year after year. Remember, most pundits had the Rangers finishing dead last in the league just after the lockout. And look what happened! The Islanders haven't found those gems late in the draft, but there's a chance.

With that in mind, I thank you. While preparing to write this, I couldn't wait to savage the Rangers for all the mistakes they've made. I've done a pretty good job of doing that. But in reading about all of the missteps the Rangers have made, I now realize that all is not lost. Hey, you guys made it 54 years between Cups and never lost faith. I hope we don't have to wait that long. The Islanders will have their day in the sun. It's just a question of when.