1986 Draft

Hits: While not a spectacular draft, this one was probably the last good Islander draft of the 1980's, producing just over 1,100 games played combined. After 1986 an Islander draft would not produce players that combined for even close to 1,000 games for the team until 1991. In the second round the Islanders went back to the high school level to tab a future husky defensive defenseman in Dennis Vaske out of Illinois. Vaske joined the Islanders system in 1990, but didn't catch on for good until 1992-93. In the third round the Islanders went with Bill Berg from Toronto of the OHL. Berg became a good utility player for the Islanders having been drafted as a defenseman but having the ability to play forward as well. But perhaps the Islanders best selection of this draft took place in the seventh round when the scouting staff found a gem from the WHL's Prince Albert Raiders. A big bull who would take on and go after other teams top players, Rich Pilon would become a mainstay on the Isles blue line for the next 12 years(over 500 games) starting in 1988 when he surprised with a solid rookie season. 

Misses: The top three players the Islanders chose in this draft all went on to contribute and went on to pretty successful careers. And as mentioned the Isles did find a gem in the later rounds in Pilon. Fourth round pick Shawn Byram was one of the Islanders top prospects with Capital District in 1990-91 but when he was called up he didn't take hold of his opportunity. Two more players who never found success at a higher level that some believed they could, since they were signed to professional contracts, were fifth round pick Todd McLellan and ninth round pick Jeff Jablonski. The Islanders 10th round pick, RW Kerry Clark, was the younger brother of former Islander Wendel Clark. Kerry was a bit of an immature player, as he often use to do the moonwalk on skates when he scored during his games in the AHL.

Turn Back the Clock: This draft really wasn't a deep one, especially after the first round. There really wasn't much better out there after the Isles selected Fitzgerald. And as mentioned earlier Tom turned out to be a pretty good player. One possibility could have been LW Adam Graves, who was taken with the first pick of the second round, 22nd overall by the Detroit Red Wings. D Teppo Numminen was taken 29th overall by Winnipeg. islesinfo choice: Fitzgerald was a good choice, but they wouldn't have gone wrong either with either Graves or Numminen. As mentioned, Fitzgerald turned out to be a very good fourth line, character player and should have had a longer career with the Islanders. But Graves turned out to be a first line player that would score 50 goals for the hated New York Rangers and contribute to two Stanley Cup Championships, one with the 1990 Edmonton Oilers kid line and another with the 1994 Rangers. Numminen has been a top four, if not two, defensemen for the Winnipeg/Phoenix organization for 15 years.