Islander Staff Exhausted after 2017 Entry Draft 2017-08-09 The New York Islanders made 5 selections in the 2017 draft. The relatively few number of selections were the result of the team buying at the deadline last season, and an unexpected extended playoff run resulted in their draft picks being in the back of every round. They were also unable to sell their expiring contracts at the deadline because they were needed for a playoff run. "Our entire management and scouting staff are just dead tired after the 2017 draft. Everybody did exemplrary work, but it was a lot more difficult than last year. Scouting all the European guys just took a toll on everybody. Drafting Patrick Laine isn't difficult. What's difficult is after our team wrecked Kevin's team so hard our draft positions were ruined along with it, our scouting staff had to pick through our reports and decide which players had the highest upside going forward. Our draft philosophy has not changed: production and upside." After acquiring the 12th overall pick with the 28th and 59th overall picks, the Islanders selected from the OHL NICK SUZUKI with their first pick. "Nick hits all the boxes for us. Nick was the second highest scoring draft eligible player in the entire CHL, and he was one of the very youngest too. He produces and has skill and vision in bundles. We need more guys like that. He needs to get faster and stronger, but that will come with time and hard work." With the 90th overall pick, the Islanders selected out of the USHL MIKE ANDERSON. The Islanders continue to lack quantity and quality on the defensive side in terms of prospects, but Mike Anderson was not selected out of need but out of merit. "For a draft eligible guy, he played a billion minutes every night at the USHL level. Recently at the WJCSS, he was trusted to play a lot of minutes and defensive key minutes as well. He also put up a decent amount of points at the USHL level, we expect him to be a reliable NHL defender in the future." With their 3 remaining picks in the 4th round, the Islanders selected Igor Shryrov from the VHL/MHL, Scott Reedy from the USNTDP, and Maxim Zhukov from the USHL. Perhaps out of these 3 picks, Scott Reedy is the most intriguing. At this time in 2016 he was touted as a top 30 pick in the 2017 draft, but slipped due to some inconsistency in the 2016-2017 season with the USNTDP. "We expect Scott to turn it around, he will attend a good NCAA program, and we'll see from there."