Rounding out the top 5 draft picks in the 2012 NHL Draft
Posted by kirsch17 on June 15th, 2012
Next up on the clock at this years NHL Draft in Pittsburgh will be the New York Islanders. In the last seven years the Islanders have only made it to the playoffs once, and they lost in the first round (4-1) in 2006-2007. Needless to say they need some more depth at every position in order to get out of the funk their in. One position they need to fill is on defense. They need not only a defensive defenseman but also a puck-moving defenseman. Ryan Murray will fill one of those spots for the Islanders when he gets picked fourth overall in the 2012 NHL Draft. He is the type of player you can pencil into a top pairing for the next bunch of years. Being the top defenseman in this years draft the Islanders are going to need him. As a rookie in the WHL he tallied 27 points in 52 games while averaging 30-35 minutes a game. Murray is looked at as being a future two-way defenseman in the NHL and will be a solid player in the future, something the Islanders will need to lock down. Look for him to be the first defenseman drafted this year going to the New York Islanders.
Trades are known to happen during drafts and general managers will do anything they can do move up in the draft and try and get players that go to free agency in the following week. Probably the biggest player this year that caused the most talk during the trade deadline is Rick Nash. There were so many teams that wanted Nash but he finished the year where he started, in Columbus. The Toronto Maple Leafs have the fifth overall pick but I see them doing a trade instead of picking someone. With Toronto sending the #5 pick, Luke Schenn (D) and Joe Colborne (C) to Columbus for Rick Nash and a 3rd round pick the Rick Nash saga will finally come to an end. By doing this Toronto solves one of their major scoring problems by getting the high-profile Nash. This situation was the best situation for Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson. Columbus beings their rebuilt in a strong way by getting Luke Schenn to help an up-and-coming defensive core, Joe Colborne to hopefully build into the mold of Ryan Johansen and with the help of recently drafted Alex Galchenyuk everything will soon fall into place. And with this trade the top five picks will be: Nail Yakupov (Edmonton Oilers), Alex Galchenyuk (Columbus Blue Jackets), Filip Forsberg (Montreal Canadians), Ryan Murray (New York Islanders) and the trade between Toronto and Columbus ending the Rick Nash sweepstakes.
