The Tampa Bay Lightning were scheduled to make the 28th selection in the 2015 National Hockey League entry draft on Friday night, but GM Steve Yzerman had other ideas. Just as the day was coming to a close at the BB&T Center, the Bolts traded No. 28 to the New York Islanders in exchange for the 33rd and 72nd overall picks. Those selections will be made tomorrow when the festivities continue.
Even with a handful of notable names left on the board when he was slated to make the 28th pick, Yzerman elected to trade down just like he did in 2014. His modus operandi seems to involve acquiring as many picks as possible, and then utilizing the team’s successful development program to create NHL-quality players. It’s that sort of philosophy that helped find guys like Nikita Kucherov, Ondrej Palat, and Alex Killorn, among others, in the post-first rounds.
While some fans were upset about waiting all day only to see the Bolts deal their first round pick, it’s hard to disagree with Yzerman’s actions. The reality is that the jump from 28th to 33rd is minimal at best. There isn’t some mystical, massive drop-off in quality. Adding another mid-round pick to the holster made the decision to trade down an easy one. Consider the ‘value’ of the picks this deal:
Lightning trade pick 28 (value of 283) to Islanders for picks 33 and 72 (value of 406).
— dom luszczyszyn (@omgitsdomi) June 27, 2015Thanks to Friday’s trade, the Lightning have 10 (!) selections to make on Saturday at the draft. There will undoubtedly be a strong bevy of young players arriving in Tampa’s system tomorrow morning and afternoon. It’s nice to see that, even with a Stanley Cup-contending team, Yzerman is still focused on building for the future.
Back tomorrow after a morning golf game. As always, thanks for reading.
Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.