The 2009 NHL Draft was one of the Islanders’ most pivotal weekends in franchise history. What everyone remembers is that the Islanders held the first overall pick in this draft, but they also had another lottery selection, as well as five additional picks. All seven of the Islanders’ draft picks have played at least one NHL game, which has been extremely rare since the expansion era began. Two of those players are still current New York Islanders, and impactful ones at that. Here are the seven 2009 Islanders draft picks, and how their careers have gone.

Round 1, Pick 1: C John Tavares 

After debating between him and defenseman Victor Hedman, the Islanders chose to draft OHL prodigy, John Tavares. At just 17, Tavares’ 134-point season with the Oshawa Generals ranked 42nd on the single-season OHL point list. In the next two years, he continued to put up over 100 points, getting traded from Oshawa to the London Knights in his final season before joining the Islanders. In his NHL debut season, Tavares scored 54 points and was fifth in Calder voting.

His numbers begin to skyrocket, and by his third season was scoring at about a point-per-game rate. He continued that rate for most of his career. Before the 2013-2014 NHL season, John Tavares was named captain of the Islanders. He was the heart of the Islanders ever since being drafted and was the leading scorer every year as an Islander except in 2014 when Tavares had an injury sideline him for nine games, and still trailed Kyle Okposo by just three points, who played the full season. In 2018, the “Tavares Era” ended after nine seasons when the captain infamously signed to his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs.

Round 1, Pick 12: D Calvin de Haan

The second John Tavares left the podium after his selection, GM Garth Snow got to work. First, he traded into the first round, giving a handful of mid-round picks to get pick number 26 from the Sharks. Then, Snow traded more draft picks to Columbus to move up from 26 to 16. Finally, Snow moved up again, trading up four picks to 12 with Minnesota. Now that the Islanders had pick 12, they wanted to improve the defense, and there was no better way to do so than to draft Tavares’ teammate. At 12, they selected Oshawa Generals defenseman, Calvin de Haan. de Haan stayed in the OHL for two more years before signing his entry-level contract with the Islanders. His first year was spent with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers apart from one NHL game, and his second year in Bridgeport, de Haan suffered a season-ending injury in just the third game.

The Islanders still had high hopes for de Haan, as he got to play 51 NHL games the next year, putting up 16 points. Unfortunately, de Haan wasn’t a hit like Tavares was. He was a solid defensive-defenseman but was never a guy who could play on the top pair. de Haan crossed the 20 point park only once. In 2018, like Tavares, de Haan left the Islanders as a free agent, signing in Carolina. Now, de Haan is still a defenseman worthy of playing time with the Chicago Blackhawks. It all worked out in the end as with the 16th pick that the Islanders gave the Wild, they selected Nick Leddy, who found is way to the Islanders and is currently a top defenseman for the team,

Round 2, Pick 1: G Mikko Koskinen

The Islanders were coming off a poor campaign, so when it came to draft night, they believed they needed to rejuvenate every position. After taking a forward and defenseman in the 2009 Draft, the Islanders kicked off day two with a goaltender. Koskinen played just two AHL games and six ECHL games in his first season with the organization. In year two, Koskinen spent time between the Sound Tigers and the Islanders, playing in 36 AHL games and 4 NHL games, but did not play well. He had a goals-against-average of 3.49 and a save-percentage of 0.892. After just three more games in Bridgeport the next year, Koskinen left the NHL to play in his home country of Finland. In 2014, Koskinen left the Finnish Liiga and went to Russia to play in the KHL. Four years later, Koskinen returned to the NHL after his seven year hiatus, with a three-year to deal to join the Oilers. Now 32, Koskinen served as the starting goaltender in 2018-19, and part of a tandem with Mike Smith last season.

Round 3, Pick 1: G Anders Nilsson

Doubling down on goalies, Garth Snow wanted to make sure the future was in good hands between the pipes. Snow was a former goaltender himself, a likely catalyst to taking two of the draft’s top goaltenders. Nilsson, who was born in Lulea, Sweden, continued playing for his hometown Lulea HF of the Swedish Hockey League after being drafted. He signed a contract and came overseas in 2011, and was a hot rookie in the AHL. He even got to play a couple of NHL games when the Islanders had injuries.

His 2012-13 season, however, went poorly. He only played 21 games and posted career-low stats. The next year he split between the AHL and NHL, showing the Islanders kept faith in Nilsson. The problem was, he continued to disappoint. In 2014, he signed a one-year contract in the KHL. After a year away from the NHL, he returned to the league, signing in Edmonton. He proceeded to play for the St. Louis Blues, Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks, and the Ottawa Senators, constantly bouncing around the league in search of backup role openings. Nilsson is currently dealing with concussion symptoms and is likely going to miss the entire 2020-21 season, which lead to his trade to the Tampa Bay Lightning, who will likely place him on the Long-Term Injury Reserve.

Round 4, Pick 1: C Casey Cizikias

In the fourth round, the Islanders took another Toronto native in center Casey Cizikas. Cizikas has been an integral part of the Islanders’ lineup, and a fan favorite since making his NHL debut. His junior career began just outside Toronto with the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors of the OHL. Before being drafted, Cizikas scored 41 and 36 points in his first two OHL seasons. In his two more OHL seasons after being drafted, he put up 62 and 64. In 2011-2012, Cizikas began his pro career in Bridgeport, where he was great 45 points in 52 games, and got to play 15 NHL games where he got four assists. In 31 more AHL games the following season, he continued his dominance and got another call-up, this time permanently.

Cizikas quickly found a home in the Islander’s bottom-six, as a reliable defensive center that played bigger than his actual size. He had a career year in 2019, when he put up his first 20-goal season, as the Martin-Cizikias-Clutterbuck line became almost impossible to score on. Cizikas finished as a +22 last year, which expresses the line’s efficiency. Cizikas is one of the two players in this draft still on the Islanders and will be an unrestricted free agent in 2021.

Round 5, Pick 1: D Anton Klementyev

Anton Klementyev is definitely the least-known player in this Islanders draft class, but might just be the most interesting. A relatively unknown player, Klementyev was drafted out of Russia in the fifth round, and immediately given an entry-level contract. This is very odd, as players this late rarely ever get rookie deals until at least a few years later. Klementyev played 28 games in Bridgeport and played in one emergency NHL appearance.

That’s right; someone who was just drafted in the fifth round played an NHL game. For reference, in the 2019 NHL Draft, only five players played an NHL game in the first year- Jack Hughes, Kaapo Kakko, Kirby Dach, Ville Heinola, and Tobias Bjornfot. All five were drafted in the first round. Anton Klemetyev, a fifth-rounder who played one game in the KHL, his only game above the Russia3, got to play an NHL game. Sadly, Klemtyev would never see NHL ice again. He played two more seasons for the Sound Tigers, then went to play two more seasons in Russia, then played low-level hockey in Poland until his official retirement in 2017.

Round 6, Pick 1: LW Anders Lee

The Islanders got creative in the sixth round, taking winger Anders Lee directly out of high school, which is not common. Usually, North American players go to play for junior teams in Canada or the US, or play in the USNTDP, possibly get drafted, and either continue playing in their respective leagues, or go to play college hockey once they are old enough. Anders Lee stayed in high school until he was 18, after his senior year. After the 2009 Draft, Lee played one season for the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers, then went to college to play for Notre Dame for three years. During that third year, in 2013, Lee was called upon to play two NHL games, where his first goal and first assist. The next year he spent mostly in the AHL but scored 14 points in 21 games. After beginning the 2014-15 season with the Sound Tigers and scoring five points in five games, Islanders fans were practically begging the team to use him in the NHL, and they did.

In his first year, he tallied 25 goals and 41 points, and the next year he had 15 goals and 36 points. Then, by 2017, Lee became a top scorer on the Islanders. In his next four seasons, he scored at a 50-point pace. His best year was 2018 when he scored 40 goals and 62 points. After that campaign, he was named the new captain, when their first 2009 draftee John Tavares left in free agency.

Ben Kule

Die-Hard Islanders fan and writer from Plainview, Long Island, NY. I have a passion and knowledge for this team and I enjoy sharing that with others