In the post-dynasty era of the New York Islanders, there have been two 1st-overall draft moments before today.
One was engineered in the nadir of the Milbury era by a GM who always outsmarted himself, trading a (future Hall of Fame) asset he already had to make room for what would prove to be a lesser, and eventually injury-cursed version.
The second followed a teardown, rebuild last-place finish in the injury-riddled, goalie-go-round season that followed the pivotal 2008 draft. That night in 2009, Lighthouse Hockey was a couple years old and had maybe 10 regular commenters, but damn if we didn’t go crazy when Garth Snow and the Isles didn’t do anything stupid with the 1st overall pick.