The New York Islanders have slowly transitioned to a younger direction and have added to their prospect pool. After selecting Matthew Schaefer with the No. 1 pick the squad sets itself up nicely with a future franchise defenseman.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here are my New York Islanders top 10 prospects after the draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No.1 Matthew Schaefer<\/p>\n
The No. 1 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft has the chance to be a superstar in the NHL for years to come. Schaefer is the Islanders top prospect and it\u2019s not even close. He\u2019s an elite skater that has great stick handling ability and is smart defensively. The big question is where will he play next season?\u00a0<\/p>\n
It seems that he will at least start the year in the NHL but I\u2019d expect him to stay on the NHL squad the entire year. They could start with the 9 game sample and make their decision from there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No.2 Calum Ritchie<\/p>\n
Ritchie was a major piece the Islanders acquired in the Brock Nelson trade. He was the Colorado Avalanche\u2019s top prospect and is a top-20 prospect in hockey. Ritchie has already seen time in the NHL with seven games where he recorded one goal (it was against the Islanders) but was sent back down to the OHL. This means his contract will start next season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ritchie projects to be an elite two-way center that could be on the power play and the squad\u2019s top penalty kill unit. He was projected to start next season on Islanders as their third line center but with some of the signings that Mathieu Darche has made it seems like Ritchie will start the year in Bridgeport.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
No.3 Cole Eiserman<\/p>\n
The only other first round selection made by Lou Lamoriello other than Simon Holmstrom seems to have a bright future in the NHL. Eiserman fell into the Islanders laps at No.20 at last year’s draft and is arguably one of the best pure goal scorers when it comes to prospects.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In his freshman season at Boston University he put up 25 goals and 36 points in 39 games. He has already announced his plan to return to Boston University but could come to the Island after his sophomore season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He projects to be an elite top line goal scorer in the NHL and could solve a problem the blue and orange have been missing for many years.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
No.4 Victor Eklund<\/p>\n
When the Islanders traded Noah Dobson everyone thought they would trade up for James Hagens (which they tried to) but it never got done. I think fans are more excited that they didn\u2019t. Victor Eklund was a projected top-10 pick in this draft and fell to No. 16.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He isn\u2019t afraid to go into the corners and has very good vision when he isn\u2019t shooting on the net minder. He has a high compete level and is someone that would help the Islanders need of finding a goal scorer. Eklund projects to be a top six winger that has a wicked shot in the NHL.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No.5 Kashawn Aitchison<\/p>\n
The second pick that was acquired by the Islanders in the Dobson trade seems to have allowed the team to deepen its defensive prospects. Aitchison was also selected lower than he was projected and is a great value pick by Darche.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2019s a big, physical, defenseman who can contribute offensively and isn\u2019t afraid to drop the gloves. Aitchison\u2019s one of the guys you want to have on your team but not play against. The big thing for Aitchison is that he needs to learn when to hit someone and not just go for the hit every time, but he has time to develop so that will happen as he develops.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aitchison projects to be a physical, middle pair defenseman.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
No.6 Danny Nelson<\/p>\n
The second-round pick from 2023 has grown as a prospect since being drafted. In The Hockey Writers midseason update Nelson ranked at No. 92 best prospect in hockey. He rounded out the list of Islanders prospects that made the list.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although he projects to be a middle six center, Nelson should become a solid NHLer in the future and could be on the squad at the end of next season after his junior season at Notre Dame.<\/p>\n
No.7 Daniil Prokhorov<\/p>\n
The 6 ‘6 russian forward plays with a physical style and the scouting report on him is that he will be a fourth line forward. I think that\u2019s wrong. I believe Prokhorov can be a top six winger in the NHL.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He has good stick handling ability, good on ice vision and if he can get a more consistent shot he could be a capable top six winger in the NHL.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No.8 Isaiah George<\/p>\n
At the time the extra fourth round pick included in the Alexander Romanov trade was looked at as an afterthought, but looking at it now that was a big win for the Islanders. George was selected with that pick and he has been a solid prospect for the Islanders.\u00a0<\/p>\n
George entered the pros this past season. He split the year evenly with the Bridgeport Islanders and the New York Islanders. In 33 games he had one goal and five points but was able to hold his own in the NHL.\u00a0<\/p>\n
George could make the team next year but I could see it as another back-and-forth season for him before he becomes a mainstay in the NHL. He projects to be a solid middle pairing two way defenseman.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No.9 Marcus Gidlof<\/p>\n
Gidlof was a player that was considered a project goaltending prospect. The Islanders are a perfect landing spot for a player like that. They already have Sorokin and don\u2019t need to rush a young goalie to come into the NHL anytime soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gidlof will have plenty of time to develop and I could see him being a high quality backup in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No.10 Quinn Finley<\/p>\n
The pick that the Islanders selected with was almost traded to Ottawa in the JG Pageau trade, but due to conditions on the pick it was never moved. I bet the Islanders front office is happy about that right now. Finley\u2019s stock has grown tremendously since he was drafted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finley\u2019s coming off a monster year at Wisconsin where he had 40 points in 37 games and was one of the highest point getters in the NCAA. Finley is another prospect who could make his way to the NHL by the end of next season and could be a third-line goal scorer for the squad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Honorable Mentions:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kamil Bednarik<\/p>\n
Bednarik was the other second round pick in the 2024 Draft by the Islanders. He\u2019s also linemates with Eiserman at Boston University. The reason he didn\u2019t make my list is because he has a low ceiling but I believe he has a high floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bednarik is the perfect two-way, third line center whenever he takes the jump to the NHL.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jesse Pulkkinen<\/p>\n
Pulkkinen is a very interesting prospect. He was drafted as an overager in the second round of last year’s draft but could become a very solid player. The big question with him is his mentality.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 6 ‘6 defenseman has all the skills needed to make the NHL but it\u2019s does he really want to make the big leagues. I think he does and could be a solid second pairing defenseman for the blue and orange in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Islanders have slowly transitioned to a younger direction and have added to their prospect pool.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":146231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-146230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115029561017607007","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}