Recapping the Islanders’ offseason: Draft, UFA, Orange Vs. Blue incoming

So three months after the Islanders’ season ended, where do we stand?  Well Garth Snow and the now former-Head-of-Scouting/ A.G.M. Ryan Jankowski had a hell of a draft, top prizes being Nino Niederreiter, whose name does in fact NOT fit on the jersey, and Kirill Kabanov.

Prospect camp started this week with almost all our top prospects attending.  Petrov, Kabanov, Nino, Hamonic, Koskinen, Nilsson et al.  Notable injured are Calvin de Haan (whose present and skating, but not dressed) and Kevin Poulin.  See here for a full list.

This years camp is closed to the public with the exception of the Orange vs. Blue prospect scrimmage and skills tourney, taking place this Saturday at 7:00.  Purew.in will be in attendance and we’ll have a full write up to follow (and pictures as well, if they let this non-professional photographer in with his “professional” camera)

Our predictions? Hamonic, Petrov, and Nino are NHL-ready caliber talent that should steal the show.  Does Gordon and company agree? 48 hours from now, if they’re not convinced, I’m not convinced.

The Isles have also aquired some talented free agents, including defensemen Mark Eaton and Milan Jurcina, and forwards Zenon Konopka and P.A. Parenteau (the inevitable Tambellini replacement).  Konopka is a super entertaining enforcer, and Eaton is a skilled defensive defenseman.  The overall theme? Size, these are all big friggin guys.

And we wont even touch on the Kovalchuk fiasco.

Like this article? Check out these similar ones:

1. Islanders Orange Vs Blue Review
2. Islanders Draft Prospects 2010
3. Orange Vs Blue *UPDATE*
4. Islander’s Mid-Summer Recap
5. DP and the Neverending Nauscious Feeling From His Contract