The Islanders may already have the kind of draft that changes a franchise.
A year after landing Matthew Schaefer with the No. 1 pick, Corey Pronman’s latest 2025 NHL re-draft for The Athletic only reinforced how strong that first swing looks. Schaefer stayed in the top spot, and that part barely raises an eyebrow anymore. He has already won the Calder Trophy, emerged as the best player in the class, and sits as a Top-10 Norris Trophy contender.
The real intrigue comes after that.
What makes this class worth revisiting is the possibility that it might end up mattering to the Islanders the way 2009 did. That’s a serious standard.
The 2009 draft gave the Islanders John Tavares at No. 1, Calvin de Haan at No.
12, Casey Cizikas at No. 92 and Anders Lee at No. 152.
Those weren’t just useful picks. Tavares became the face of the franchise and later its captain, de Haan spent six seasons on Long Island, Cizikas became one of the defining players of the teams that reached consecutive conference finals, and Lee scored 308 goals as an Islander before succeeding Tavares as captain.
That draft didn’t just land one star. It helped shape the team’s identity for years.
That’s why Pronman’s reshuffling of the 2025 class is so notable. Kashawn Aitcheson, taken 17th by the Islanders, now sits eighth in the re-draft.
Daniil Prokhorov, selected 42nd, has climbed all the way to 18th. Tomas Poletin, picked 106th, is up to 52nd.
Victor Eklund is the one name to slide, dropping from No. 16 to No. 27.
One-year re-drafts are not final verdicts, and Eklund still has the best shot of the group to make the team out of training camp. But the broader picture is hard to miss. The Islanders appear to have found more than one possible long-term piece in the class, and that’s the kind of outcome that can alter a franchise’s direction.
The comparison to 2009 isn’t about finding another Tavares. It’s about building another core. In 2009, all seven Islanders selections eventually reached the NHL, and the biggest hits - Tavares, de Haan, Cizikas and Lee - left fingerprints all over the organization for more than a decade.
The Islanders are not there yet with 2025. Nobody should be putting Aitcheson next to Lee or Prokhorov next to Cizikas. The question is simpler than that: can this class produce more than one answer?
Schaefer already has.
If Aitcheson, Prokhorov, Eklund or Poletin become what the Islanders think they can become, 2025 could end up being remembered the same way 2009 is now - not as the draft that delivered the next superstar, but as the one that helped define the next version of the team.
Eiserman also pointed to the energy around the club ahead of training camp, saying at the NHLPA Rookie Showcase in Chicago in July, “There's a new coach and it seems like there's a lot of buzz around the Islanders, which is pretty cool especially with 'Schaef,' Eklund and Aitcheson, (Malte) Gustafsson, all these young guys," Eiserman said at the NHLPA Rookie Showcase in Chicago in July. "It's cool everyone's coming at the same time-ish, which is important for all of us. We all feel very comfortable and excited, mostly because we're all in it together.”
And there was also this from Eyes on Isles: “Over the past seven seasons, one word many have used to describe NY Islanders hockey is boring. During the Trotz era, the team over-achieved, defending their own zone and nearly made the Stanley Cup Finals. But boring and the Islanders don’t coincide much anymore thanks to Matthew Schaefer.”
In Other News...
Islanders Just Got A New Warning For Their Next Young Core Deals
The Bruins new deal for Fraser Minten is the latest reminder that the market for young centers keeps moving up, and it should be on the Islanders radar as they map out the next wave of extensions. Minten, 22, is coming off a solid rookie season with 17 goals and 35 points in 82 games, and Boston rewarded that start with a long-term contract that signals how quickly teams are willing to buy into upside when they think they have a foundation piece.
For the Islanders, that kind of contract lands as more than a Boston headline. It adds another data point to the bargaining table for future restricted free agents, especially as the club looks ahead to young forwards whose next deals will need to fit into a tighter cap picture. Simon Holmstrom and Cal Ritchie are the names to keep in mind, because contracts like Mintens have a way of setting expectations before those talks even begin. [Read more 🡒]
Islanders May Have Found The Playmaking Spark Their Offense Needed
The Islanders added a different sort of piece on July 1 when they brought in winger Matias Maccelli, a move aimed at giving the offense a little more vision and a little more patience with the puck. After stops with Arizona, Utah and Toronto, Maccelli arrives with the kind of creative touch this roster has been looking for, especially as Peter DeBoer settles in as head coach and tries to sharpen a group that has often relied on transition more than sustained setup play.
What makes Maccelli intriguing for New York is not just where he has been, but what he can do once the puck gets to the offensive zone. The Islanders need help feeding their finishers and giving their power play a steadier distributor, and Maccellis role figures to be built around that exact need. The fit is still in the early stages, but this is the sort of addition that could quietly change how the attack looks if it clicks. [Read more 🡒]
Islanders Transition Suddenly Feels Different With A Franchise Defenseman Emerging
The Islanders keep describing this moment as a transition rather than a teardown, and there is a real reason that language matters. The organization believes in its current management, trusts the player-development path it has laid out, and sees a chance to build something sturdier than a quick fix. With veteran pieces still in place and some upcoming salary-cap flexibility, the goal is not just to chase a good season, but to assemble a playoff roster that can actually last.
Matthew Schaefer is the biggest proof of concept so far. The 19-year-old defenseman arrived with the kind of momentum that changes the feel of an entire roster, and his rookie year immediately put him among the leagues most intriguing young players. Prospect evaluators already view him as a franchise-caliber talent, which is a major shift for an Islanders team that has spent years looking for a cleaner bridge between its present and its future. [Read more 🡒]