With the Islanders struggling this season, a lot of fans believe that tanking for presumptive number one pick Shane Wright is the correct decision. Here’s why that is not the case.

Almost everything has been an uphill battle for the Islanders this year. They currently sit in 26th place in the NHL. They are eight points out of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and have struggled in almost every statistical category this season. Scoring goals has been difficult, and the defense has been inconsistent.

Despite defeating the Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers last week, some fans don’t believe that’s enough to revive the season. Perhaps the Islanders’ only course of action is to tank to get a higher draft pick in the upcoming NHL draft.

The 2022 NHL draft has one particular name that is creating massive buzz in the hockey world. That name is Shane Wright.

Shane Wright has dominated the OHL. Wright picked up 66 points in 57 games in the 2019-20 OHL season. While that’s nothing exceptional for a possible first overall pick, consider he recorded those point totals as a 15-year-old. Indeed, he is only the sixth player in OHL history to be granted “exceptional status,” allowing him to enter the league a year before most others.

Fellow “exceptional status” player Connor McDavid had the same amount of points in 63 games during his first junior season.

Wright seems like the real deal. He is poised to impact whatever NHL team he lands on immediately. And, if the Islanders’ slide continues, Wright could possibly end up on Long Island.

Going all-in on Wright means going all-in on losing. But that still doesn’t guarantee the Isles will land him. Even if the Islanders have the highest chance of getting the first overall pick, there is no guarantee the Islanders will win the draft lottery. The Islanders are still able to climb up the standings, so tanking for Wright at this point is a high-risk, low reward situation that most likely will not pan out in the Islanders’ favor.

Islanders fans also need to keep in mind that bringing in a player as talented as Wright won’t solve the Islanders’ scoring problems. They have to do more.

Some teams have trusted their first overall picks too much. Jack Hughes, who dominated hockey before going to the New Jersey Devils in 2018, has yet to dominate the same way at the NHL level and the New Jersey Devils are not better off. They have yet to make the playoffs since drafting him.

Even Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers haven’t achieved significant success after the regular season. Since McDavid entered the league in 2015, the Oilers have won 7 playoff games and one Stanley Cup Qualifier game.

It takes an entire team to win in the NHL, not a single generational talent. Wright can only be part of the Islanders’ future. If the Islanders somehow managed to get the first overall pick, they would be wise to use the opportunity to build a team around Wright. They should acquire more depth scoring and a mobile top-four defenseman in addition to the star player.

But this is all talk for after the season is done. For now, the Islanders have a playoff race to focus on.

Ethan Halle

Ethan is an Economics Major at the University of Florida looking to pursue a double major in Sports Management with a minor in political science.