INSIDE HOCKEY

No team will have a bigger impact on the 2009 NHL Entry Draft than the New York Islanders.

The Islanders have the first pick overall, and a total of seven picks in the first three rounds (two in the first round, three second-round selections and two more choices in the third round).

GM Garth Snow is doing a very good job of keeping Islanders fans and the rest of the league in suspense. Snow has indicated that he knows who his club will select with the first overall pick in the draft, but he won’t reveal it until Friday night, when the team actually goes to the podium in Montreal.

The three main contenders for the first-round pick are center John Tavares, who played last year for the OHL’s London Knights; Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman; and center Matt Duchene from the Brampton Battalion.

Tavares remains the highest-ranked pick, according to most scouts. He has the best scoring touch of any player available in this year’s draft and the Islanders—who finished last season ranked 29th in the league in goals scored—desperately need a sniper. At the present time, the Isles do not have a promising goal scorer in their farm system.

Tavares has been in the spotlight since he was 15 years old. He later broke Wayne Gretzky’s OHL scoring record, and also played very well at the World Juniors this past winter.

The knocks on Tavares are that his skating is only average and that he doesn’t play a strong defensive game. The lack of speed could become an issue in Scott Gordon’s up-tempo forechecking game. The Islanders can forgive both of those issues if Tavares can become the team’s most dangerous offensive threat since Mike Bossy.

At 6'6", 220 pounds, Hedman has great size and has the potential to be a dominant force on the blue line. He is strong on his skates and can contribute in all three zones of the rink. Hedman played the last two seasons in the Swedish Elite League against grown men while Tavares and Duchene were playing against teenagers. Despite this, he made a subpar showing this past winter at the World Juniors.

Some scouts compare Hedman with Chris Pronger, although he lacks the mean streak Pronger brings to the table. The Islanders may hesitate before selecting Hedman because defensemen tend to take longer to develop than forwards.

Pronger struggled early in his career in Hartford before finally developing into an elite defenseman with the Blues. He didn’t make a postseason NHL All-Star team until his fifth season. Can the Islanders afford to wait four or five seasons for Hedman to blossom?

Duchene is the most well-rounded of the three candidates and has the best leadership ability, according to most scouts. He may not score as many goals as Tavares, but he has more playmaking ability and is much more effective without the puck and in his own zone.

Duchene was not considered a candidate to be the top choice in the draft but he had a very strong 2008-09 season and became a top prospect. He appears to have the potential to be a very good NHL player but not an elite one, so is he worth the first pick?

Snow is an independent thinker so he will not be influenced by the fact that the vast majority of Islander fans have been clamoring for Tavares since the middle of last season. The Isles’ GM has seen teams like the Pittsburgh Penguins (Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin) and Chicago Blackhawks (Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane) turn their fortunes around quickly with the wise use of the first pick in the draft, and he wants to do the same for the Islanders.

“We owe it to our fans and ourselves to draft the player who we think gives us the best chance to win the Stanley Cup one day,” Snow told TSN earlier this week. “That’s the only consideration we have. That’s all that matters. And that’s what we’re going to do. Whichever player we pick, that’s the one we think gives us the best chance to be successful.”

While most of the attention is being paid to the first overall selection, the overall success of the draft will also depend on later picks made by Snow and assistant GM Ryan Jankowski. The Islanders have another pick in the first round (26th overall), three picks in the second round and a pair of choices to make in the third round.

Snow could make use of each of these picks, but it is more likely that the Islanders will utilize at least some of them in trades to move up in the first round and grab a particular player that they believe can be another important piece of the puzzle.

Islander fans should be on their toes during the first round as the team could trade up and make a pick at almost any time.

Because the franchise has had difficulty attracting big-ticket free agents, the draft is the key way for the Islanders to rebuild their franchise. Snow has done a good job stockpiling picks; now he has to make those picks pay off.

Rick DiPietro, Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey are the cornerstones of the Islanders rebuilding program. Friday night, the Islanders hope to add a few more vital pieces to the puzzle.