Islanders Top 25 Under 25: Brock Nelson at #5, progressing stage by stage

The "other" 2010 first-round pick's trajectory has proceeded according to plan.

By Dominik@LHHockey Jun 22, 2013, 5:02pm EDT

Apparently we are all pretty high on Brock Nelson, who comes in at #5 on our Top 25 Islanders Under 25 countdown for spring 2013.

So far the development of the 21-year-old, drafted in 2010 after the Islanders traded up to grab him with the last pick in the first round, has proceeded about as well as one could have hoped.

At the time of his draft, his projection was even less certain than the typical prospect due to questions about the quality of competition in his Minnesota high school circuit.

Those questions faded with his first two progressive years at North Dakota, then really disappeared as he took to the AHL in his first full season with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

At this point, the Sound Tigers' leading scorer in 2012-13 is even a candidate for the NHL roster next season, when he'll turn 22 by training camp. As part of the black aces callups for the playoffs, he even received a spot appearance in Game 6 of the Islanders' six-game playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

One probably shouldn't read anything into that Game 6 performance other than what the fact it even happened says about how the Islanders view him.

How we voted:

CIL	KQ	MikB	Mark	David	MikeFIG	Chris	Dom
5	5	7	4	8	4	6	4

Some remarks on why he we've rated his stock so highly, some of us putting him ahead of several U25 Islanders with substantially more NHL experience.

Chris McNally:

When you look up "2-Way Game" in the Isles prospect dictionary, it says "See Brock Nelson." After watching Bridgeport religiously during the lockout, I thought I was way too impressed with Nelson. But after a tweet to Corey Pronman, my impression was backed up by an outsider with no reason to pump the Isles prospects. Nelson should make a good #2 center in the NHL, or at least a really good 3. Again with the depth down the middle, someone will get moved to the wing, and it could be Brock.

Mike of FIGtastic Powers:

His first name makes it impossible for me to rate him any lower than 5th. But his skill helps. Frans won't always be here (sorry, Dom!), but with Nelson, I'm not worried about that.

Davd Hanssen:

Versatility+Big body+ Good hockey instincts. I see a lot of Dave Scatchard in him. Ranked higher because he's less of a boom or bust prospect than some lower on the list.

"Safe" is never a word one should associate with prospects, and with each one there is always some kind of setback that makes you think a guy's upward trajectory has paused if not stalled. But given his development the past three seasons it's pretty safe to say Brock Nelson is going to be an Islander, and a good one.