New York Islanders Name Jack Capuano Coach, Will Draft 5th

The New York Islanders took care of its most obvious piece of business very quickly this offseason, dropping the "interim" title from Head Coach Jack Capuano and giving him the organization's full support.

Capuano's overall numbers came in below .500, but remember he started in the middle of a losing streak that basically torpedoed the entire season.

It took the Islanders a while to get used to his new, free system that he instituted, which takes players abilities and allows them the freedom to use their own creativity, as opposed to the strict X's and O's hockey-by-numbers system former coach Scott Gordon employed.

I am sure the young Islander core is supportive of this as "Cappy" is a very popular coach with the players who tells it like it is.

This is very important with a young team, as the Islanders can continue to grow knowing the coach righted the ship and turned the Islanders into one of the toughest teams to play against after the All-Star Break.

The Islanders will probably also have to name a new team captain, assuming Doug Weight retires.

I am saying right now that man should be Mark Streit.

If not Mark Streit, then who?

Kyle Okposo? John Tavares? Frans Nielsen?

It should be interesting who the team elects. From an on-ice standpoint though, it is almost irrelevant.

What is more relevant is the Islanders getting rooked out of the fourth overall pick in the draft by the eighth seeded New Jersey Devils, which won the draft lottery with only a staggering 3.9 percent chance of doing so.

That's right people, a team that just signed one of the best scorers in the NHL to a 15-year, $100 million dollar contract won the draft lottery.

The Islanders will draft fifth and have another blue-chip prospect to add to the long list of prospects already in the organization.

Should the Islanders stand pat at fifth and just take the best available player?

Should they trade down and pile up more draft picks?

Should they attempt to trade up and get one of the top prospects?

Or maybe, just maybe, this team is ready to trade a draft pick for an established player to bolster the lineup for a playoff run.

The main question is, who is available via trade? The biggest issue with that is you just never know who will be available come draft day.

Odds are the Islanders will pick the best player at their position in the draft and move forward with the young core that showed so much improvement this season.

The coach is in place and the young core is stable and will all be back.

The veteran defense will be back from injury.

All signs point to the Islanders being out of the draft lottery for a long time.