Garth had a good draft, as usual, he's drafted incredibly well since taking over as GM. If Kabanov gets his head screwed on right, Garth instantly looks like a genius, more so than Bob Murray does for grabbing Cam Fowler 12th overall. However, it's not the draft that Garth put together that's most impressive, it was the additions to the overall talent pool that are most striking.
Yes, Bridgeport is a very young squad this year and playing only slightly better than their major league affiliate, but the focus of this piece is a level lower and the East Coast Hockey League and the depth and talent pool brought in to the Kalamazoo K-Wings that has a chance to shine on Long Island in a few seasons with proper development. A few of these last names will sound familiar due to more famous older brothers (the Islanders have a habit of grabbing younger brothers, yet never got a Staal, sad, missed out on Marc by three picks in 2005).
A look at the Defensemen, in order: Wes O'Neill, Mitch Versteeg, Steve Tarasuk, Corey Syvret
First up is Wes O'Neill: (photo used from Swedish Islanders Wordpress blog)
O'Neill was actually an Islanders 4th round draft pick in 2004, the 6'4 215lb D man spent college at Notre Dame and found his way into the Avalanche system making 5 NHL appearances in the past two seasons. O'Neill began the year at Kalamazoo, but is now at Bridgeport having scored 5 points in 17 games while playing to a +6 rating. O'Neill fits a shutdown D sort of profile throughout his career never taking too many penalties, and not being an all out offensive D-Man. In the wake of yesterday's James Wisniewski trade, O'Neill looks like a candidate for a call up if Dustin Kohn or Dylan Reese are felled by injury and someone is needed from Bridgeport.
Mitch Versteeg: (Picture from Versteeg's K-Wings Bio Page)
Not to be confused with older brother Kris, Mitch is a physical D Man who knows what he's doing with the Puck, his point totals are meager this year (his second in the ECHL, but first as an Islanders farm hand, was brought in in July with other undrafted/"minor League" free agents along with team mates Tarasuk, Syvret, and Justin Taylor) with 6 points in 22 games for the K-Wings, last year Versteeg collected 20 in 68 games while also appearing in three games for the Worcester Sharks in the AHL. Mitch just turned 22, so plenty of time to round into form, he's only a -4 so far, so it's not like he's clueless on D.
Steven Tarasuk: (Picture from Tarasuk's K-Wings Bio Page, also ladies, ain't he cute?)
Typically age 20 D men in the Major Junior leagues are expected to produce and Tarasuk did way more than that in his age 20 for the London Knights in '09-'10, Tarasuk only tripled his point production jumping from 20 in 08-09 to 67 (19 goals, 48 assists after previously recording no more than 3 goals in any season). Playing with Nazem Kadri certainly helped. Tarasuk picked up another 10 points in the playoffs for London. Unlike many of his London team-mates however, Tarasuk went un-drafted, though did appear in a few playoff games for former Islanders ECHL affiliate the Utah Grizzlies for their play off run producing no points in 2 games played. This year in his first year of pro hockey and he's put up 11 points, 2 goals and 9 assists, in 24 games to go with 15 PIM and a -7...but if he can become the puck moving D-Man that he was last season at London, Garth has found an un-drafted STEAL.Corey Syvret: (Picture from Syvret's K-Wings Bio Page)
If the adage is that Defensemen develop slower than Forwards then Corey Syvret's going to need all the Time the Islanders will give him. The 21 year old Syvret (who rooms with former OHL rival Tarasuk) is pointless through 20 games this year, collecting 14 PIM and is a -8 on the season. Syvret tallied 30 points last year for Geulph and got into 4 games with the Rochester Americans picking up an assist. However, Florida GM Dave Tallon didn't want to roll the dice on the former 6th rounder and let him go allowing Garth to pounce on the 6'2 195 lb Defenseman. While he's yet to score any points, in a story about Tarasuk and Syvret a few weeks ago in Kalamazoo mentioned coach Nick Bootland's praise for Syvret in learning the system and adjusting to the league.
Finally, forward Justin Taylor: (Picture from Taylor's K-Wings Bio Page)
I have to admit, I started looking at Taylor's numbers in rookie camp and was absolutely FLOORED by the production I saw. Now, it's entirely possible that the Washington Capitals and Taylor couldn't come to an agreement after the 2007 6th rounders production went through the roof (18 points in his draft year shot up to 55 in '07-'08, somewhat like Matt Martin) but Taylor kept improving adding 67 and 62 point campaigns to a resume; I can only assume his agent demanded first round money/bonuses and George McPhee laughed him out of his office or hung up immediately. Taylor never signed with the Capitals and was considering going to college before he got a call from the Islanders to come to Rookie camp with a shot at opening the season at Bridgeport (I will find and post the link later); Taylor won a roster spot with the Sound Tigers and got into 6 games, sensing he needed ice time for his development he was sent down to Kalamazoo and has more or less set the place ablaze. in 13 games Taylor has racked up 7 goals, 5 assists, 41 PIM, and a -3 rating. Taylor plays Center which is stacked with the Isles AND Bridgeport, but at 21 and producing, his time will surely come.
And now a fight including a number of Islanders prospects! (a Sarnia Sting-London Knights game from a few years ago, more on DiBo and Katic later)
While Garth Snow never made the BIG trade or signed the BIG guys this past summer, he added 5 guys to his minor league depth who will likely help in the long term more than one Paul Martin could have (still would have LIKED to get Martin or Anton Volchenkov or Zbynek Michalek, etc) but if these guys pan out, they'll certainly make us realize Garth's plan.
