islesinfo - 1987 Draft

The Islanders entered the 1987 draft having come off one of their most exciting playoff finishes ever. After finishing the regular season 35-33-12, and third place in the Patrick Division with 82 points, the Islanders went to the second round of the playoffs losing a heartbreaking seven game series to the Philadelphia Flyers. The Islanders were attempting to come back from a 3 games to 1 deficit in the series, just as they did in the first round against the Washington Capital, a series that including a quadruple overtime game 7 victory. This draft for GM Bill Torrey would be the first of four drafts in a row in which he and head scout Gerry "Tex" Ehman would tap the Western Hockey League with their first round pick. With the 13th pick the Islanders looked to the Memorial Cup Champion Medicine Hat Tigers with defenseman Dean Chynoweth. After winning a second Memorial Cup in a row with Medicine Hat the 6'2", 190 pound Chynoweth joined the Islanders for 1988-89. But an eye injury he sustained in a fight against Philadelphia Flyer Rick Tocchet in the 9th game of the season caused him to have to miss some time. Not only that but Chynoweth was diagnosed with Osgood-Schlatter disease, an affliction that affects growing bones, causing sharp pain in the legs. That caused him to miss the rest of the season. When Chynoweth returned he began a career up shuttling up and down between the Islanders and the AHL that would last between 1989 to midway into the 1995-96 season. In that span he played only 147 games for the Islanders and never played more than 39 games in a season. While the defensive defenseman was a good depth player on the blue line for the Islanders, he didn't become the player the Islanders believed he could be. Eventually Chynoweth was dealt to Boston for a mid round draft pick in December of 1995 by GM Mike Milbury. For a more complete recap of Dean Chynoweth's career visit his islesinfo's profile through the link below.

Hits: One look at this draft and the only conclusion you can come to is that this was the Islanders worst draft of the 1980's. It produced only 268 man games for the team, with Chynoweth playing over half those games. If Chynoweth could be looked at as even a remote success because he made it to the NHL, then the same can be said for second round pick Jeff Hackett and sixth round pick Rob DiMaio. Hackett struggled big time as a goaltender breaking into the NHL in the early 90's with a poor Islander squad that already was breaking in Mark Fitzpatrick along with veteran Glenn Healy. But Hackett is still in the NHL today after stops in San Jose, Chicago, Montreal and recently Boston. The same can be said for the diminutive but scrappy DiMaio. A former teammate of Chynoweth with Medicine Hat DiMaio is still playing in the NHL today after proving himself with the Islanders in the early 90's and stints in Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, Boston, the Rangers, Carolina and most recently Dallas. Fourth round draft pick George Maneluk, another goaltender, played 4 games for the Islanders in injury relief during 1990-91 and was even further down the depth chart behind Hackett. All four of these players could just as well be viewed as misses, as upon leaving the Islanders none of them brought back anything significant in return.

Misses: As mentioned earlier, pretty much all of these players can be classified as misses for the Islanders. Though they probably gave up too soon on the fan favorite DiMaio. Add to the list of misses third round pick Dean Ewen. Considered at one point to be the heir apparent as a possible tough enforcer for the Islanders, Ewen was never able to surpass Isles resident enforcer Mick Vukota on the depth chart. Plus he experienced numerous injuries during his four years with Springfield and Capital District. The Islanders eighth round pick Jeff Saterdalen is still the all-time leading scorer at St. Cloud State, but after graduating in 1992 could not get any higher than the ECHL.

Turn Back the Clock: Hindsight is always 20/20. But the Islanders no doubt would really wish they had this one back. After they took Chynoweth with the 13th overall pick, the Quebec Nordiques selected future hall of fame C Joe Sakic two picks later at number 15. On a lesser rung, C Andrew Cassels was selected 17th by Montreal. If the Islanders wanted to stay with defense they would have been much better off going with 16th overall pick Bryan Marchment who went to Winnipeg and turned out to be probably everything the Islanders wanted from Chynoweth. Or they could have went with Stephane Quintal, 14th to Boston. To make it even worse, in the second round LW John Leclair was taken 33rd overall by Montreal. And after the Islanders took Hackett with the 34th selection, D Eric Desjardins was snatched up by the Canadiens at 38th. Maybe the Islanders scouts should have followed around the Montreal scouts. IslesInfo choice: Sakic could have made a great one two punch with Pat LaFontaine down the middle. But LaFontaine's presence may have been the reason the Isles passed on a Sakic. With Bryan Trottier winding down his career with the Islanders Torrey would have been wise to bring in Sakic.