New York Islanders Top 25 Under 25: Eamon McAdam starts the goalie train at #23

Goalies. You need to draft 'em young. You can't project 'em for squat.

The New York Islanders have a bushel of goalies under age 25 in the system -- one of whom they carried as a third goalie at the NHL level all season -- and each one has made it into our spring 2016 Top 25 Under 25 ranking.

As you can see below, Eamon McAdam only cracked the top 25 on five of our ballots, but that was enough to get him into this countdown, as the overall prospect pool has a lot of "hmmm...maybe" spread around the bottom, which divided our ballots and made a general glorious mess of things.

McAdam joined Penn State as it launched its program. It was a rocky beginning, but he finished his junior season as a starter (22 games, about double his workload from each of the previous two seasons) and was often the proverbial "difference" in their success in 2015-16. That's what you want from a goalie, and it was a nice way to end his NCAA career as his stats improved.

His pro contract and ATO at the end of the season got him a taste of the pros, and it was a rude one: six goals allowed on 35 shots in his Bridgeport debut, the regular season finale as the team headed into the playoffs with nothing but "momentum" to chase.

We'll see how he does at the next step as he begins his first pro season for real in 2016-17. Given the crowd in the crease, there's a decent chance it includes some ECHL time.

How We Voted, and a Little Bit of Why

I'll let the voters tell the rest of the murky story...

Chris McNally:

GOALIES! SO MANY GOALIES! McAdam did well in his first full season as Penn State's starting goalie. Even so, there are some better looking goalies in the pipeline.

Les (HockeyGoalieEh):

It's unlikely that Eamon McAdam ever materializes to an N.H.L. goalie, but he's still young and they can magically improve at any time. He should get some seasoning with Missouri next year where he can start. If he becomes anything of value, the Islanders will have captured lightning in a bottle, but at 21 he's still young and goalie progression is incredibly random.

King (CanadianIslesLifer):

Difficult as it is to project goalies, about the only statement I'm confident making on McAdam, is that he's not on Sorokin or Soderstrom's level. He needs a solid year in the AHL in order to better gauge him.

Keith Quinn:

Here is a goalie.

In like 7 years he may make us the winners of the Niedereiter trade. Good college year for a still, very new program at Penn State. Most accounts have him carrying the team.

Indeed, here is a goalie. The future is sorcery.

Previously on the Spring '16 25U25

• #24: Jake Bischoff becomes a leader at U. of Minnesota
• #25: Pivotal year for Jesse Graham
• The Outsiders: Those who missed the Top 25U25 cut