The New York Islanders Took Cole Eiserman in the First Round of the NHL Draft, What Does He Bring?

The New York Islanders surprised a lot of people and kept the 20th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. With it, they selected winger Cole Eiserman who may just be the best pure goal scorer available in this year's draft. We hear from Eiserman and what he had to say after he was selected by the Isles plus discuss his development and what he needs to work on before he's ready to play in the NHL.
We also break down the Isles picks on day two of the NHL Draft and we have the latest news of assistant coach Doug Houda, pending free agents Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin and which players the GM Lou Lamoriello made qualfying offers to at the Sunday at 5 PM ET deadline.
Plus, what we can expect from the Isles as NHL free agency gets under way later today.
All this and more on today's Locked On Islanders Podcast with Gil Martin.
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[@tonypalumbo898]

Good morning team. I hope everyone had a great weekend. Best thing about Monday is Locked On Islanders time. Gil, it was great news about getting Eiserman. I too couldn't believe he was available at pick 20. I'm happy the Islanders are building for their future. I think that's the right way to go. Just think, in 5-6 years, we could be a seriously legit cup contender, and we should be very competitive for several years after. Looking forward to that. Everyone, have a great rest of the day! See you all again next time. Until then.. Let's Go Islanders!!

[@LockedOnIslanders]

Thanks Tony, I really appreciate the kind words. I was happy with Eiserman and wasn't sure he'd still be on the board at 20. Now we've signed Duclair as a FA. Still waiting to see who they get rid of to free up the cap space. Thanks for the comment.

[@CrewJoe1958]

From the Boston University Athletics webpage “INCOMING FRESHMAN COLE EISERMAN WAS CHOSEN 20th OVERALL BY THE ISLANDERS” he is going to BU THIS YEAR! In addition, The Daily Faceoff Morning Cuppa Hockey show had a nice interview with him the day before the draft and it was also mentioned there that he was going this fall. Further, Kamil Bednarik (2nd round) is also going to BU this fall and will be coached by Jay Pandolfo who won a cup with the Devils in 2000 and 2003 and Lou L as his GM

[@LockedOnIslanders]

Nice that they will be working together. Hope his development is done right. Thanks for the comment, CrewJoe1958.

[@davefranco3811]

Very surprised that he was still there. I thought for sure Detroit would take him just on the name alone. Glad he fell to us.

[@LockedOnIslanders]

Me too. They need a sniper and hopefully in 3-4 years, he'll be ready. Thanks for the comment, davefranco3811.

[@Danfromoverthere]

They must have tied Lou up and locked him away! I couldn’t believe he was available at 20! The entire draft was pretty good for the islanders

[@tonypalumbo898]

I agree. Lou is def locked up somewhere. Keep him there, but please do give him food and water.

[@LockedOnIslanders]

Things broke well for the Isles for sure. Glad he was available. Thanks for the comments, Danfromoverthere.

[@LockedOnIslanders]

LOL

[@kenduffy5397]

Great show as usual. 🎸

[@LockedOnIslanders]

Thanks, Ken, appreciate it.

[@mariagandcompany]

Thanks for your insights Gil. Drafting prospects in Hockey is tricky business. Like Baseball in that it takes years for draft prospects to develop and it's a crap shoot for the most part.

[@LockedOnIslanders]

Absolutely, mariageandcompany. I hope the Isles do well with this year's class. They need to fortify the prospect pool. Thanks for the comment.

[@foleydvm]

Great pick Lou!!! Look isles fans we have to temper our expectations. We are not winning a cup next year or making big moves. Hope we make playoffs. Hope bounceback year for sorokin hope mayfield coming back helps pk hope full year of Roy tightens up team but we don’t have the cap space and friendly contracts to do anything big this year. Temper our expectations. Next year the rebuild begins

[@LockedOnIslanders]

Looks about right although Lou just signed Duclair so he's trying to make the playoffs this year. Not sure who will be leaving to make room for him yet. Thanks for the comment, foleydvm.

[@foleydvm]

@@LockedOnIslanders looking forward to it looking forward to next season and to this awesome channel as my first listen everyday!!!

[@kidnamedbarzalislanders2498]

Worked out great for the isles. Traded back to 20 and Eiserman was still there. Could not have worked out better. Would have been a disappointment if eiserman went 18th our original pick. Have to give Lou credit.

[@LockedOnIslanders]

And I do give him credit for having Eiserman there and taking him. It worked out well. Thanks for the comment.

[@stevenbauer4799]

Isles lucked out by keeping the first and having a much needed scorer fall to them. He is still a 3 + year project still a year away from boston u. Pullkenen has potential to be a keeper on d end. He can skate, join the rush, and has some offense. The question is if/when he comes over to n. america to develop. Probably just like with eiserman a 3 + year project. Those two are the draft and make or break it. This gives the isles some much needed prospect help with eiserman their top prospect now. The rest of the picks look like draft and hope picks even tho a c from usdnt was picked so he has the eiserman connection. And eiserman could be dealt to get the big scorer isles need. And now with the draft over and picks kept the question is how do isles get cap relief to do anything in free agency or on trade market? Isles with cap going up $ 4 mill. today mon. have roughly $ 9.8 mill. in cap room. They wont get a big fish ufa. Isles could slip a secondary option in under their cap like debrusk or duclair who have been mentioned to isles yet still need to dump 27 or 44 to make a trade for scoring help. So future picks /players have to be used to do that. Or could move say 21 or 29 to lessen cap and get prospects to get younger to go after eihlers or laine or even mcgrority who have been linked to isles. Marner wont be moved. And next years ufa class could be the best ever. draisaital, rattanan, marner, ehlers, just to name a few could be out there with 29, 21. And kane re-signed with det. Guentzal's rights were traded to tb meaning stamkos is gone. I still don't know what to expect. By grabbing the goal scorer in the draft and a d man with some skill/upside lou must finally be waking up to the fact this team is woefully short in that dept. And next years draft is heavy with top end forwards. ufa frenzy is here when cap $$$'s will disappear quickly. Trades will wait until ufa spending is done. And who is lou kidding? 26 has no trade value except as part of a bigger deal. He just wont admit his draft mistake. And why would ishkatov re-sign just to be banned to the ahl again? Those two are trade throw ins for bigger deals only. Isles didn't even use they buy out period. And 29 could be good tdl bait yet could be the one moved to get cap relief and prospect or picks. mcgrotity would be a cheap option thru trade only needing elc $$$'s that wouldn't cost a ransom trade wise. I don't know if jets would want 29 in a deal. Maybe d.nelson/pick? They wont get ehlers who would come with a big extention isles can't afford. Probably never-one expert said stamkos is the apple of lou's eye this ufa period. I'd like to see that rabbit pulled out of the hat. Teams can be over the cap during off-season. Have to be cap compliant by opening roster.

[@LockedOnIslanders]

Well, they signed Duclair. Adds some speed and gives them a solid second line winger who will likely play on the Isles top line. Then I assume Tsyplakov plays on the second line and to Lou, that's the two top six forwards the team needed. Thanks for the comment.

[@stevenbauer4799]

@@LockedOnIslandersDuclair has the roy q connection so it made sense. I'd put duclair on second line. Isles still need that top line winger laine, ehlers? Still gotta move 44 or 27 to do it.

[@Islanders83]

I think Eiserman will do well if he plays on a line with Barzal. He’s a left handed shot and plays Left Wing which works well with Barzal feeding the puck from the right side. ( think Marty St Louis and Stamkos).

[@MrAschiff]

He would be if he were playing with the team this year. Cole is at least three years away from joining the club.

[@LockedOnIslanders]

Could be a good combo but we're at least 3 years away. Thanks for the comment, Islanders83.

[@Islanders83]

@@MrAschiff yeah, but barzal and Horvat will still be here.

[@Islanders83]

@@LockedOnIslanders yup, Barzal will still be here.

[@MrAschiff]

@@Islanders83 Yes, but three years older

[@MrTherater1]

Bossy 2.0 ???? Congrats guys

[@LockedOnIslanders]

I'd take that any day. Thanks for the comment, MrTherater1.

[@kevinscott9242]

Love this Draft! For in depth player evaluation on Pulkkinen see Hadi from Dobbers Prospects. Called him the only Unicorn DMen in Draft.(youtube)..For more on Eiserman- listen to Craig Button explaining how Eisermans critics remind him of draft eligible Mike Bossy(youtube)...Marcus Gidlof- Corey Pronmans #1 Goalie in Draft..(The Athletic).

[@LockedOnIslanders]

I was also happy with the draft. Surprised Lou didn't trade the picks, but glad. Thanks for the comment, kevinscott9242.

[@kidnamedbarzalislanders2498]

Loved palffy. Sad we had to trade him.

[@LockedOnIslanders]

Agreed. Ownership wouldn't pay him what he was worth and so they ordered Milbury to trade him. Last real sniper the Isles had. Thanks for the comments, kidnamedbarzalislanders2498.

[@MrRobt1971]

The Islanders still trying to rebuild from losing picks to get rid of Andrew Ladd, then the failure of not getting anything back from John Tavarez-letting him walk for nothing. Then giving up more picks to make up for the lose of Tavarez. Looks like Lou is trying to rebuild depth at every position. To move from 18 to 20 add a another 2 and still get a player some had in the top 10/12 is pretty nice move. To move this team forward they might have to make more deals and turn the page on many players on this team. I don't think there are any untouchables. so get ready Gil.

[@LockedOnIslanders]

Always ready for anything. Lou keeps us on our toes. Duclair now signed but we still don't know how he's going to create cap space for it. Thanks for the comment, MrRobt1971.

[@MrRobt1971]

@@LockedOnIslanders I just read they want to add Shane Pinto

[@yeright2pops434]

Wish he would go right to BP.

[@LockedOnIslanders]

Yeah, not happening, though. He's not even 18 until next month. Thanks for the comment, yeright2pops.

[@kaiyoung5458]

To be honest not really that excited about this pick reminds me too much of Oliver Walstrom great shot with no defense game and no hockey sense on how to get open to get his shot off

[@LockedOnIslanders]

That could be the downside. I hope he pans out better. Thanks for the comment kaiyoung5458.

[@aramanookian9202]

I'm hoping this kid doesn't turn into like Bellows and Wahlstrom...19 teams did pass on him. History does tell us that our scouting hasn't been all that good..

[@Danfromoverthere]

I thought the same thing but I’m trying to stay hopeful

[@raymondhenry5379]

A lot of teams passed on Barzal, I’m sure Boston is sorry they passed on him

[@Danfromoverthere]

@@raymondhenry5379 I know that draft was pretty awesome. I have to say Snow did get some good players through the draft

[@LockedOnIslanders]

We shall see. The Isles need to develop him properly. Thanks for the comment, aramanookian9202.

[@jeremy.fordavon4030]

Every team passed on Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Bryan Trottier. Heck, 14 teams passed on Bossy. It doesn't matter which teams have passed on him. What matters is how hard he works on his game moving forward. He has the scoring ability to be a top line player. He needs to work on making the other parts of his game as good as they can be, while not compromising on his goal scoring.

[@Danfromoverthere]

If Lou puts the same roster out this season coming up I guess I’ll have a lot of free time because I’m not watching that mess

[@raymondhenry5379]

@@Danfromoverthere The same roster is not going to be playing Martin and Clutter are gone, new coach new players are going to make the team should be interesting

[@LockedOnIslanders]

Added Anthony Duclair so already the roster is a little different. I wonder what happens next because he'll need to shed some cap. Thank for the comment, Danfromoverthere.

[@raymondhenry5379]

Jonathan Marchessault on a Cap friendly contract, that my choice, this is a now thing for more goals he could put up 40 goals with Barzal, ha ha great trade hun Gil, and we ended up with garbage Kirk Muller who wanted nothing to do with the team thanks Gil !!!!

[@MrAschiff]

He's not coming here.

[@raymondhenry5379]

@@MrAschiff why

[@MrAschiff]

@@raymondhenry5379 The Islanders have cap problems and he's going to want more than the Islanders can offer him. The Isles have had problems attracting free-agent stars, see Panarin signing with the Ranges.

[@raymondhenry5379]

@@MrAschiff I agree to some point, Roy got him in to the NHL, he’s leaving 5M, I’m figuring 6M X 3 yrs, I can’t see any one giving him a boat load of money he’s 33 , just my fantasy pick Mr A

[@LockedOnIslanders]

Marchessault not here, Duclair is. It's a legit top six forward although clearly a 2nd line guy. It's still a major upgrade over Cizikas, Fasching, Lee or any other player currently on the Isles roster. Thanks for the comment, Raymond.