Islanders 2024 Draft Recap

Another year, another hunt for pro-calibre players outside of the first round.

That's been the annual mission statement for the New York Islanders at the EHE Entry Draft ever since General Manager Kyle Phillips took the helm.

Over the course of three years, Phillips has traded away every one of the Islanders' 1st round picks, not to mention another that was originally acquired from the Boston Bruins earlier this year. And just for good measure, he's already shipped out the team's 2025 1st rounder

Thankfully for the Isles' beleagured scouting team, the 2024 draft did see them holding five selections overall, thanks to some wheeling and dealing in the week leading up to the draft. Two deals over the weekend also netted a pair of 5th rounders, giving the organization a total of seven dart throws to work with.

With the dust now settled, here's a look at the how the Islanders fared in their hunt for high-end talent in unlikely places, including comments from Phillips on each pick.

GM's Take: Harrison was at the top of our board through the whole process, so we were thrilled to get him. We feel he has a high ceiling, with size, skating, puck skills, and the ability to move the play up ice in multipe ways. He needs to slow things down a little out there, but that's mostly because he's always trying to make something happen, which is exactly what we like about him.

GM's Take: Luke has a lot of craftiness and skill to him, and can really tilt play in the right direction when he puts his mind to it. He still has to learn a lot about the nuances of the game at both ends of the ice, but that only comes with experience. With him being one of the younger players in the draft, we're excited about his development path over the next couple of years

GM's Take: On skill alone, Miguel has everything you could want in a scoring forward. We think he stacks up with almost anyone in the draft when it comes to what he can do in the offensive zone. He still needs to work on being an effective player when things aren't going his way though. That's a habit all good pros need, and something we're hoping to see more from him next year.

GM's Take: Just a super toolbox all around, he's got everything you could ask for to make an impact in the middle of our lineup one day. Now he needs to take the raw tools he has and refine them. He already skates so well, but he needs to get stronger on his feet. He scores his fair share, but now he needs to create his own offense a little more. Those sort of things.

GM's Take: Just a kid who our scouts ranked as being really good across the board. All the fundamentals are there at a high level, but he does tend to fade in and out of games. Next year we'll be looking for him to find an identity that separates him from the pack.

GM's Take: Beckett has been on our radar since last year, so we were happy to move up and get him this time around. He's maybe not as dynamic as the players we usually look for, but he has high-end vision and distribution skills and he's a menace on the forecheck. We think he has a pretty unique profile overall, so we're eager to see how he comes along.

GM's Take: We absolutely love the skill and the vision with Hagen. We expect that when he heads to the University of Denver next year the he will work on his skating first, second, and third. If he can advance in that area, the sky's kind of the limit for him.