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With Top Pick, Islanders Choose Goal Scorer in Tavares

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Whether it was relief or pure joy, 10,000 Islanders fans who had gathered at Nassau Coliseum on Friday night erupted in a prolonged roar when they saw General Manager Garth Snow announce that the team had selected John Tavares, the Ontario Hockey League’s career-leading goal scorer, as the No. 1 overall pick in the N.H.L. draft.

Confetti rained down from the giant scoreboard that was tuned to the live proceedings in Montreal as the Coliseum rocked to chants of “Let’s go Islanders.”

“I feel like I’m going to cry,” said Martin Lopez, 18, of North Babylon, who was on hand to witness what fans say they are hoping will be the first step in their once-proud team’s long-awaited return to respectability. “I jumped up and I was yelling so loud I got confetti in my mouth. This is so awesome.”

Tavares, who scored a record 215 goals in 247 career O.H.L. games and led Canada to back-to-back world junior championships, told the Canadian network TSN: “Now I have a great opportunity to go to a rebuilding franchise in New York. Hopefully, we’ll bring the tradition back. I’m definitely relieved now and excited to get started.”

Snow had been coy for weeks about what he would do with the pick, even with Tavares.

“Garth had the best poker face I think I’ve ever seen,” said Tavares, a 6-foot, 185-pound center.

Snow told TSN that he had never considered other offers.

“Nothing we would have even considered,” he said. “John’s a special hockey player and an even better person.”

The Islanders also held the 26th pick in the first round, but traded selections to move to No. 12. They chose Calvin de Haan, an offensive defenseman who was Tavares’s teammate with Oshawa until Tavares was traded to London in January. De Haan’s production with Oshawa fell off after Tavares left the team.

The Rangers used the No. 19 pick to select center Chris Kreider of Phillips Andover Academy, a prep school in Massachusetts. Kreider, who is 6-2, 200 pounds, was the highest-rated American high school player in the draft.

The Devils traded to move up to No. 20 and chose Jacob Josefson, a third-line center with Djurgarden of the Swedish Elitserien.

Tim Erixon, the son of the former Ranger Jan Erixon, was taken at No. 23 by Calgary. Marcus Johansson was taken 24th by Washington, bringing the number of Swedes drafted in the first round to a record seven.

The first five draft picks wound up going exactly as projected.

Victor Hedman, only 18 but with two sparkling years under his belt in the Elitserien, was picked No. 2 by Tampa Bay, a club whose two owners have had a public falling out.

Matt Duchene, an O.H.L. forward seen as a leader and scorer in the Joe Sakic mold, went No. 3 to Colorado. There, he will play alongside Sakic, who will be playing his 21st and possibly final season.

Evander Kane, a center who scored 48 goals last year in the Western Hockey League, went to Atlanta, a team that has yet to win a playoff game in its nine-season existence.

Los Angeles chose Brayden Schenn, another W.H.L. center whose brother Luke is a highly touted second-year defenseman for Toronto.

In the first big trade of what promised to be an active draft and free-agency period, Philadelphia acquired the 6-foot-6 all-star defenseman Chris Pronger from Anaheim in exchange for Joffrey Lupul, the 2008 first-round selection Luca Sbisa and the Flyers’ first-round picks this year and next.

At the Coliseum, Islanders fans desperately wanted Tavares but were worried Snow would choose Hedman or Duchene. They entered the building excited but nervous, urging Snow to make the right decision by chanting, “Let’s go Tavares.” A group of fans held up blue and orange letters spelling out Tavares’s name.

“If they pick someone else, everyone’s going to walk right out,” said Don McHugh, 65, of Hicksville.

But their roar of approval after Snow made his announcement showed what they thought of choosing Tavares. “This place went bananas,” Islanders right wing Tim Jackman said. “It’s very exciting.”

Bryan Trottier, the captain of the Islanders teams that won four straight Stanley Cups in the 1980s and now the team’s director of player development, said that Tavares had a suite of skills to call on.

“He already knows a lot of things that are hard to teach,” Trottier said. “Stick handling, playmaking, seeing the ice, how to get open, how to draw players toward you.”

“For Long Island fans, this is a dream come true,” he added.

Chris Dey, the Islanders president, reported that in the hour after Tavares was chosen, Isles fans had bought $79,000 worth of season tickets.

Izvor:
NY Times