Draft Day Over: Islanders Recap

The waiting is finally over. Bill Guerin has been traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a conditional draft pick. The former captain of the New York Islanders will now begin a new era in Pittsburgh. Bill Guerin brought a veteran leadership and presence to an Islanders team in a desperate rebuilding stage. He served as a role model for the younger guys and has helped to develop their skills to succeed in the National Hockey League. He will now take that veteran leadership and add it to the Penguins.

The Penguins are a young team and can look towards Guerin to help lead them through the playoffs. The conditional pick is a 5th round pick that will turn to a 4th round pick if the Penguins make the playoffs, and then can be a 3rd round pick if the Penguins win a playoff round.

The Islanders now come out after the trade deadline with 11 picks in the 7 rounds with most of them towards the front of the draft. The Islanders have two first round picks, three second round picks, a third, fourth, fifth, six, and seventh pick, plus the conditional pick from the Penguins.

The Islanders may not have been one of the busiest teams at the deadline, but they sure found a way to stockpile picks for this years draft, which is said to be very deep. All in all a good day for the Islanders and now it’s time to look ahead to draft day.

I thought the Islanders might do more today as it was rumored that Radek Martinek was on the block, however there has not been anything mentioned of him being moved. Bill Guerin supposedly had a deal worked out with another team prior to today’s events. However, when that fell through he was shipped off to Pittsburgh will he will try and fight his way into the playoffs. The Penguins will be happy with the leadership Guerin brings to the table.

Posted by Bryan Larson on Mar 4 2009. Filed under New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, Trades. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.