Hedman Could Sneak in at No. 1

For the basement NHL teams, the latter part of this season was dedicated to the pursuit of John Tavares.

But as we edge closer and closer to the NHL draft its becoming apparent that the team who is picking first in the draft may pass up on the young OHL pheonome.

After 82 games the New York Islanders finished their season with only 26 win and 61 points and were dead last in the Eastern conference and the NHL meaning Tavares would be a shoe in for the Isles.

But every time I look at the Islanders depth chart I think more and more about them taking Modo maven, Victor Hedman with the first pick and I’m going to explain why:

1. After giving up Chris Campoli in a trade with the Senators, the No. 2 slot on defense is now being filled by veteran Radek Martinek. The soon to be 33-year- old isn’t the guy who I see anchoring the Islander defensive core as they go through a rebuilding process.

Martinek rakes in an average of 21 minutes of ice time a night. Having Hedman fill Martineks slot would allow for him to rake up a lot of ice time and play in pressure situations. Much like the Leafs did with Luke Schenn this season.

2. Playing for Modo in Sweden, Hedman has had the opportunity play with former NHL players. The Modo defensive core has a combined 609 games played in the NHL.

For an 18-year-old kid like Hedman to have the opportunity to learn from such former NHL players, it can only be good for your own experience and improvement as a player. As well it may help in his transformation to the National Hockey League.

3. For any rookie phonemenon coming into the league, one of the keys to success is having a couple of veterans who can lead you through the first little while of your career. If you look at stars like Sidney Crosby and Wayne Gretzky, both guys were/are great talents, but when they came into the NHL they had veterans to lead the way for them.

If you look at the New York Islanders that veteran presence is minuscule. Up front aside from Doug Weight, who may not be apart of the Islanders next season, most of the forwards are made up of young guys like Blake Comeau, Kyle Okposo, Frans Nielsen and Jeff Tambellini. Who is around to provide the veteran wisdom for Johnny T? Hedman on the contrary can learn from veteran defenseman such as Mark Streit and Brendan Witt.

4. If the Isles draft Hedman they continue to build up a solid defensive core to play in front of Rick DiPietro who hopefully will stay healthy next season. The Isles then have $10 million in cap space to go and pick up a couple of talented forwards to lead the way up front. Not to mention this season the Isles ranked 28th in the league this year in goals against averaging 3.34 per game. They could use a solid defenseman.

Nonetheless, drafting Hedman over Tavares would be a bold move on GM Garth Snows part, and if Tavares turns out to be the star that he’s projected and Hedman turns out to be only average the Islanders would put another tick next to drafting disasters.

Maybe its just safer to take Tavares or maybe they should ask Mike Millbury for some advice.