The Fix is In: Islanders win NHL Draft lottery, 1st overall pick in 2025

And you thought we can’t have nice things.

The New York Islanders and good ol’ Ken Morrow were the recipients of some shock good news as they won the NHL draft lottery, giving them the first overall pick this summer against long odds.

You know, I was all set to queue up an LHH Zeitgeist post about how operating partner John Collins failed at his one job — using his inside knowledge of the NHL office to secure the lottery win and thus make the GM job he’s searching to fill way more attractive.

But then they go and ruin my plans by actually winning it, with their 3.5% chance.

Of course, it’s not one of those “generational superstar talent” years — we can’t have that nice a thing — but the couple prospects projected at the top of the draft are expected to be major difference makers. At present that is lefty defenseman Matthew Schaefer out of OHL Erie or center Michael Misa out of OHL Saginaw.

And there’s one other angle: If you’re arriving to this topic with remnant fall 2024 buzz, Long Island native and verified Isles fan James Hagens has fallen just a bit and is no longer considered a first-overall probability, more like top 5-6 in this summer’s draft. But you can always game out scenarios where the Isles drop back a few spots — prospect-heavy Utah jumped up to #4 and has gobs of picks — or do a post-selection Berard-Redden kind of switcharoo.

It’s kind of hilarious and fitting that the Islanders win the first overall pick in a year where they have no GM. It’s as if the hockey gods said, “You know what, we gave you this with Milbury, then we gave you this with Snow, how ‘bout we try it with no one in the driver’s seat, kay?”

Anyway, it’s also fitting and beautiful that the vacant GM spot meant longtime Islander scout and dynasty stalwart Ken Morrow stood in as the face of the franchise for the lottery. His aww shucks reaction was perfect.

Who should the Islanders take? Schaefer is getting a lot of the hype right now, with tempered comparisons to the style of Drew Doughty and even Cale Makar. (Everyone who uses those comparisons is describing style, not expectations/ceiling, however.)

But the pull for the hometown kid is strong. On that note, Dan and Mike recorded an emergency Islanders Anxiety after the news, so check the podcast feed or come back later this morning for a link.

Islanders News

• Morrow on the moment. [Isles]
• Finally, some surprise good news for the GM-less Isles. [Athletic]
• Mock drafts: Craig Button has the Islanders taking Schaefer. [TSN] The Athletic folk (and Staple, here) have the Isles taking Schaefer. [Athletic]
• The NHL is expected to hold some kind of “international” event at Belmont instead of the All-Star Game. So in other words, it could be way better than an All-Star Game. [TSN]
• But in another episode of politicians weighing in on sports for some reason, Gov. Hochul writes a strongly worded letter asking the NHL to have an All-Star Game after all. (Obviously, she’s never watched an actual All-Star Game, or at least none of the ones since 1993.) [Newsday]

Elsewhere

• The Leafs survived a blown three-goal lead to win in overtime, but they lost goalie Anthony Stolarz to a totally I-assure-you-inadvertent collision with Sam Bennett. [Sportsnet]
• Before John Collins the Isles’ completely legit lottery luck stole the headlines, the big news of the day was Luc Robitaille firing his teammate Rob Blake as Kings GM. Oh to have your buddy fire you while publicly thanking you for “always doing what’s best for the team.” [NHL]
• The Canucks say their Twitter, er, X account was hacked which is why it appeared to promote Elon Musk and some crypto sorcery. [TSN]