Islanders have second pick in 2001 draft

By Jonathan Litterine
The New York Islanders had a bad bad year. The least they could hope for was the number one overall selection in June’s NHL Draft. Well there not going to win that battle either. Earlier today the NHL conducted it’s annual “Draft Lottery”. Due to the fact the Islanders had the worst record they were most likely to win the lottery and acquire the first pick. The Islanders ended up with the second overall pick. Isles GM Mike Milbury said if he had the 1st pick he was going for Windsor Spitfires Center Jason Spezza. Well now that the Atlanta Thrashers have the first pick, chances are Milbury will either take Spezza or Ilya Kovalchuk, depending on who is taken first. Spezza seems to be the likely choice, but Kovalchuk is flying up draft boards while playing over in Russia. Either way all this proves is that nothing goes right for the Islanders. Last Year they won the draft lottery and in my opinion blew the pick on Rick DiPietro. Instead of Roberto Luongo and maybe Marian Gaborik or Dany Heatley, the Isles ended up with DiPietro and Mark Parrish, after a draft day deal with Florida. That is a loss at both ends of the ice. So the logical pick for Milbury seems to be either Spezza or Kovalchuk, but has Mike Milbury ever done anything logical in his tenure as general manager of the Islanders?