The Tank’s Note: Adam is not only the Proud Papa of future big leaguer Chris. Like Steve, Adam is also an Islanders fan. This year’s draft was held in Montreal, home of the Canadiens. Without further ado, here’s Adam!
In case you missed it the Islanders had the first pick in last night's NHL draft. Most people around hockey all agreed that John Tavares was
the #1 pick. He scored 72 as a 16 year old in Canada and holds numerous scoring records. But this being the Islanders there was the
possibility that they could take Victor Hedman a defenseman. Hedman is very good, but it takes defenseman a few years to mature both
physically and mentally in the NHL. Chris and I decided that if the Isles didn't take Tavares we'd have to consider abandoning the
Islanders and switching our allegiance to the The Whalers (aka The Carolina Hurricanes).
Fortunately Charles Wang...er I mean Garth Snow did the right thing and chose Tavares. He's not the savior, but the Isles have a very good
young group of players. They also traded up for the 12th pick and took a very good defenseman in Calvin De Hann. At a time when Charles Wang is trying to get the $3.5 Billion Lighthouse project pushed through and the team threatening to move, they couldn't afford to screw this draft up.
This was very similar to Pittsburgh's situation a few years back when they signed Crosby (who I hate btw, Ovechkin is a much better player).
The Rangers first pick was at 19 and they chose a center form Boston, Chris Kreider. At 20 the Devils took a center from Sweeden, Jacob Josefson (I've really had it with soft European defenseman). I was originally planning on heading out to the Coliseum for the draft, but I was able to get Mets/Yanks tickets at the last minute. I was in 416. These are close to The Tank’s and Jack’s seats are very close to where their
seats are at Yankee stadium.
Written by Adam and posted by The Tank in NY. BTW, I agree totally with Adam that Ovechkin is better than Crosby. The only non-Canadiens jersey I have is Ovechkin’s t-shirt that I got at the NHL Store on sale a few months ago. He’s that good.