New York Islanders The One That Got Away

The basement-dwelling New York Islanders are once again preparing to be sellers at the deadline (we hope). As I look backward and forward at our prospect pool, considering who I’d like to see stay and who I wouldn’t mind shipping out in trade, I can’t help but think about the one that got away.

Taken 5th overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Islanders, Nino Niederreiter occupied the unenviable position of “Islanders first round pick the year after they took John Tavares”.

At the time, a lot of Islanders country was hoping the team would select Erik Gudbranson so we would have a young defenseman to go with our stud forward. There were quite a few ‘meh’ feelings after we ended up…