Islanders Waiving Oliver Wahlstrom Puts Dagger in Awful 2018 Draft Class – The Hockey Writers New York Islanders Latest News, Analysis & More

Oliver Wahlstrom was claimed off waivers by the Boston Bruins on Saturday. The move officially ended a rocky tenure with the New York Islanders that started with plenty of promise and ended in frustration. The Islanders thought they had an elite winger in their pipeline, but he never tapped into that potential or even found a role in the forward unit. Wahlstrom needed a fresh start, and he’s getting one with the Bruins.

Related: What Went Wrong With Oliver Wahlstrom and the Islanders?

The recent move is part of a rough stretch for Islanders general manager (GM) Lou Lamoriello. He had to cut his losses with Wahlstrom – after a few one-year extensions, he finally let go of the first-round pick. Wahlstrom was part of a 2018 NHL Entry Draft haul that looked promising but instead had a lot of misses.

Islanders Come Just Short With Wahlstrom Pick

The Islanders had the 11th and 12th selections in the 2018 Draft. Lamoriello took Wahlstrom 11th and then drafted Noah Dobson 12th. This draft was full of stars, including Andrei Svechnikov, Brady Tkachuk, and Quinn Hughes, who all went early, but the pick that stings the most is that the Edmonton Oilers landed Evan Bouchard with the 10th selection.

With the Dobson selection, it’s possible that Lamoriello wouldn’t have used back-to-back picks on the defensive unit. That said, if the Oilers had passed on Bouchard, imagine a blue line with both Bouchard and Dobson. Bouchard is an exceptional defenseman and one of the best young two-way players in the NHL. Along with 47 goals and 146 assists in 295 games, Bouchard has 16.7 defensive point shares. The Islanders could have built their blue line for the next decade with him and Dobson with both skaters opening up the offense from the point and shutting down opposing defenses.

Aside from trading up, there isn’t much Lamoriello could have done. The Oilers had the higher selection in the draft and grabbed the better player. It’s not a knock on Lamoriello for settling on Wahlstrom but what does sting is the fact that he took Wahlstrom and allowed another winger to slide in the draft.

The Big Name After Wahlstrom

When it comes to draft selections, hindsight is 20/20 – nobody knows who will become a star or who will never make the NHL. That said, the Islanders needed a winger and passed on Joel Farabee, who went 14th overall to the Philadelphia Flyers.

To be fair to Lamoriello, Wahlstrom looked like the more skilled player at the time, putting up more points while playing in the same development programs as Farabee – they were both on the USA U18 team and played in the World Juniors). Farabee was more of a project as a smaller yet growing skater, which might be why Lamoriello failed to spot him. The long-time GM wanted players and prospects as they were and not what they might become, especially since he’s always in a win-now mode.

Farabee played for a non-competitive Flyers team to start his career, but he’s become a much better player than Wahlstrom, with 86 goals and 107 assists in 265 games, compared to Wahlstrom’s 36 goals and 35 assists in 220 games. Farabee has also shown he can create offense with speed on the wing, even when there isn’t much around to help him out.

Drafting Farabee instead of Wahlstrom would have made a significant difference on today’s roster. He likely would have emerged as a key part of the middle six and possibly the top six, and his play on the wing could have made him a perfect fit on the Mathew Barzal line or the Brock Nelson line. Farabee might have been what Wahlstrom never became. Instead, the Islanders must watch him be a key part of a division rival. He’s having a rough season, but the track record suggests he would have been the better pick in the first round.

Lamoriello’s Rough Second Round

The Islanders also had two selections in the second round, selecting Bode Wilde with the 41st pick and Ruslan Iskhakov with the 43rd pick. The two players never made it to the NHL.

Ryan McLeod went to the Oilers with the 40th pick. Jack Drury went to the Carolina Hurricanes with the pick between Wilde and Iskhakov. The Washington Capitals selected Martin Fehervary with the 46th pick. None of these players are stars, but they are depth additions who might have become starters on the Islanders. McLeod, for example, was a middle-six forward but helped the Oilers reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2024.

It’s hard to know if these players would have been as good had they joined the Islanders’ farm system. Or, if they made it to the NHL, there’s no telling where they’d fit or if they’d find roles. That said, all three are NHL talents, and there’s a good chance they would be on the Islanders roster today and making an impact. Had Lamoriello selected Fehervary instead of Wilde, it’s possible the defenseman wouldn’t develop into the same reliable contributor, but at the very least, he would be a depth defenseman on the team, and that’s more than they can say about Wilde.

Lamoriello Strikes Out With Uneventful Late Rounds

In the third round and onward, the Islanders were hoping to find a few role players and possibly a draft steal. The teams that draft well in the later rounds usually have the advantage heading into the playoffs. With four picks they failed to find any value.

None of the players who were selected in the third round and afterward materialized into much. The best selection from the group was Jakub Skarek, and he’s a struggling American Hockey League (AHL) goaltender who has played backup for the Bridgeport Islanders in recent seasons.

Lamoriello had a chance to make a great first impression in the 2018 Draft. He took over as GM in the offseason, and the team needed some pieces in the pipeline to start a new era. Head coach Barry Trotz helped turn the Islanders around in the short term, but Lamoriello’s awful draft hurt the Islanders in the long run, and the team still feels the repercussions.

The Islanders are an older team with one of the worst prospect pools in the NHL. Some of that can be pinned on Lamoriello’s aggressive mindset, one that moved out prospects like Aatu Raty in exchange for Bo Horvat. However, it starts with the 2018 Draft and the Wahlstrom selection.