Islanders 2017 Entry Draft Round-Up: Defenseman and wingers of various ages and sizes

The Islanders used their picks at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft to grab two wingers and five defensemen of generally normal human size. One is on the older side and could be in the AHL as early as next season, while a couple, as befitting late round draft selections, appear to be long term projects.

Oh, and they also traded a former stalwart for a bushel of future picks for either them or someone else to use later.

Let’s round up all of the draft weekend happenings for easy reading.

Thanks so much to Jenny for covering all of this for us today. It’s a long day, believe me.

The Trade

We’ll start with the obvious move that will be remembered for a while. Travis Hamonic and a fourth round pick (in either 2019 or 2020) were traded to the Calgary Flames for a 2018 first round pick, a 2018 second round pick and another second rounder in either 2019 or 2020.

The bad news is that losing Hamonic and gaining those picks doesn’t make the Islanders a better team right now. The good news is that they now have the assets and cap space to make that big addition that Garth Snow is looking for. Whether he can pull it off remains to be seen. The shift in the team this offseason has been a slow one. We’ll just have to wait until the next phase (if there is one. please be a next phase).

Goodbye and godspeed to Travis, as likable an Islander if there ever was one.

Here’s a be-bearded Snow on the Hamonic trade and the moves made this week.

The Picks

First Round

No picks. None. Zero. Nada. Color me surprised.

Second Round, No. 46

Robin Salo, D, Sport Vaasa (Liiga, FIN). No relation to Tommy Salo (this Salo is from Finland), the 6’1” blueliner compared favorably to defenseman Miro Heiskanen, who went third overall to Dallas. The 18-year-old has some impressive underlying stats playing against men in the Finnish League.

Third Round, No. 77

Benjamin Mirageas, D, Chicago Steel (USHL). Ticketed for Providence College in the fall, Mirageas helped the Steel win the USHL championship with a solid playoff run. The 6’1-1”, 171-pounder was considered a bit of a reach at this slot, but we’ll see if he can’t build off of the way his season ended.

Fourth Round

Zippo.

Fifth Round, No. 139

Sebastian Aho, D, Skellefteå AIK (SHL). Okay, so get it straight: The Islanders have a Finnish guy named Salo and the Swedish version of Sebastian Aho (as opposed to the one from Finland who plays for the Hurricanes). If MIrageas was a reach, undersized playmaker Aho is considered by some to be a steal this low. He’s older (21) and could play in Bridgeport next season. And he had at least one other NHL fanbase hoping to grab him.

Sixth Round, No. 165

Arnaud Durandeau, LW, Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL). The Islanders made a trade with the Kings to take this 5’-11” forward with a great name (but not the best name of the draft). He’s a bit of a project but his defensive game is growing.

Seventh Round, No. 201

Logan Cockerill, LW, US National Development Team. As the draft went on, the Islanders picks kept getting smaller and smaller. At just 5’-8”, Cockerill will have some growing to do at Boston University this fall, but he was a member of the gold medal winning US Team at the Under-18 World Championships this year.

Here’s the team’s round-up of all of the picks, with some other relevant info. Lots of pictures on their Twitter feed and Snapchat, too.

Good? Bad? Who knows. But we’ll spend every hour of every day debating either side until kingdom come. Personally, I’m excited about Aho and intrigued by Salo, and not just for the name confusion they may sew.

The rest of the picks are veeeeeery far away and the focus for Snow and the Islanders will be getting better now.