On the Islanders Beat

At 4 p.m. this afternoon, NHL general managers and their scouting staffs will be admitted to Scotiabank Place, and that’s when all the talk about potential trades in the draft, which begins at 7 p.m., will really heat up. The only team that might be situated better than the Islanders at No. 5 is Los Angeles at No. 2.

After Tampa Bay selects Steve Stamkos at No. 1, the Kings have their pick of the top defensemen. GM Dean Lombardi was quoted today saying he expects to stay put and pick a defenseman, likely Drew Doughty, but if he does, it won’t be because he had a lack of offers.

As Islanders assistant general manager and director of amateur scouting Ryan Jankowski said of Lombardi’s statement, “I wouldn’t believe anything I read now. Anything can happen with the possible exception of Tampa.”

As of 3 p.m., Islanders general manager Garth Snow was too busy to put down his phone to take a reporter’s call. But Jankowski stepped neatly into the breach to offer the following assessment of where trade talks stand for the Isles: “Garth is fielding calls, but it’s not quite as active as we thought it would be. It will heat up later when we get to the arena and you can meet with people face to face. Our answer all along has been, ‘Yes,’ to all those proposing to move up or down.”

As much as they might like Russian winger Nikita Filatov, the player projected to go to them in the No. 5 slot, the Islanders are open to anything that will multiply assets and speed the rebuilding process. They also apparently are willing to spend assets to move up. Indications are that they rank Doughty and Zach Bogosian a cut above the other top D-men, including Alex Pietrangelo and Luke Schenn in the top group of four.

Undoubtedly, Atlanta will pluck either Bogosian or Doughty at No. 3. Jankowski said he believes St. Louis is leaning toward defense at No. 4. If the Isles don’t move up, Filatov and either Schenn or Pietrangelo will be there for them. Asked if No. 7 Toronto has reached the point of making any reasonable offers to move up, that was the one question Jankowski deferred, saying, “You have to ask Garth.”

Some scouts have said there is a dropoff from the elite six players at the top of the draft board to the next group, which includes forwards Colin Wilson, Mikkel Boedker, Cody Hodgson, Kyle Beach and Joshua Bailey and defensemen Colten Teubert and Tyler Myers. Jankowski has a slightly different perspective, though he agrees the Islanders won’t trade down beyond the 12th pick.

“We think it extends beyond [the top six],” Jankowski said, “but we have it broken up into little mini-groups up to about Nos. 12 or 13.”

As for Filatov, he has no contract in Russia and has said he wants to play in North America next season even if it’s not in the NHL. But in light of recent reports that Pittsburgh superstar Evgeni Malkin might be offered as much as $15 million per season to play in the new hockey league being formed in Russia, Jankowski was asked if the organization has any misgivings about drafting Filatov.

“We’ve done our research and assessed everything,” Jankowski said. “There could be a problem, not just with Russians, but with any player who becomes an unrestricted free agent. All I can say is: you’ll find out. Nikita expressed very much that he wants to play in North America, and he will play in juniors this year if necessary. He is a good kid.”

Because they have 10 picks in the first six rounds, including extra selections in the second, third, fifth and sixth rounds, the Islanders also are equipped to move up from 36th overall, their first pick in the second round, to get into the late first round if there’s a player they like.

“It depends on what happens with the first pick [No. 5] and whether we use assets to move up or get assets to move down,” Jankowski said. “We think there are good players through No. 36 and even to our second pick in the second round [No. 53]. We have to see if there’s one player we think is important that is sliding. Then, we could use those assets to get in. But we still feel comfortable at 36 with what we feel is going to be there.”

That’s it for now. I’ll head over to the arena later this afternoon and post an update about the time the draft is set to begin if there is any news to report.