Islanders Won't Trade No. 1 Pick

The New York Islanders have the No. 1 overall pick for the first time in over 50 years, and with roughly 48 hours until the NHL Draft begins on Friday, nothing is going to change that.

Ahead of the draft, new Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche made it very clear that the team will hold on to the No. 1 pick and has no intention of trading it.

“I'm not trading the one, but you look at everything, right?” Darche said during his pre-draft media availability. “Teams are calling you about various options. Every time you hear something might be going on, you call a team, and my job is to do my due diligence and see what's out there. Every single day, I'm trying to improve the New York Islanders.”

The Islanders won the draft lottery despite having the 10th-best odds at just 3.5 percent. They had the longest odds of any team to win the draft lottery since 2020.

Erie Otters defenseman Matthew Schaefer is widely seen as the best prospect in the class, though Sagniaw Spirit forward Michael Misa and Boston College Eagles forward James Hagens are in the mix as well. Darche wasn't keen on revealing who he and the team have in mind.

“I can't tell you all my secrets, but calling around and getting as much info is part of the job,” Darche said. “We all know the talent at this point. You’re researching more the character and personalities. You are just trying to get as much information. There's a few guys we like, and I do have an idea at this point, because it's in four days. But we're going to keep doing our due diligence all the way through Friday."

“(Schaefer) is an impressive young man. We've met a lot of impressive people, but Matthew, obviously, everybody knows about his story with his mom, his billet mom, and the resilience he's shown. He's an impressive young man. That's all I can say. You guys have seen him, too, through these interviews, and he's a [heck] of a player. He's a great person. But having said that, there's a lot of other kids at the draft that we met who are very impressive. That's why I say, regardless of who we pick on Friday, we'll get a special player that's going to help the New York Islanders fairly quickly."

While trading away the top pick is off the table, trading for another first-round pick is very much in the realm of possibility.

“I’m looking at everything,” Darche said. “If I have an opportunity that I feel … it depends. You want to move into the top 10, what does it cost you? If I feel the opportunity warrants that trade, I’ll try it. Or if it’s an opportunity to do something else to move the team, moving up in the draft with another pick, whether it’s acquiring another pick, whether it’s trading another pick to get a player, I’m looking at all options to improve our team.”