Grabner the Latest Victim of the Islanders' Youth Movement

Ex-Florida Panther Michael Grabner was picked off waivers by the snipe-happy New York Islanders, marking the second year in a row the Isles have added a former first-round pick before the start of the regular season. Last year, it was Rob Schremp, who was taken 25th overall in 2004 by the Edmonton Oilers and had toiled in the minor leagues up until that point. Grabner was taken 15th overall two years later by the Vancouver Canucks and figured in the Keith Ballard trade this off-season. This means several things:

1) The Islanders continue to build up their cupboards, which are already rich with young, but unproven talent.

2) The Islanders are likely to keep Grabner in the NHL into the long term, meaning they will likely ice an opening-day roster that boasts the likes of the 23-year-old Grabner, 21-year-old Josh Bailey, 24-year-old Blake Comeau, 18-year-old Nino Niederreiter (who will likely play a few games this season due to recent injuries to Kyle Okposo and Schremp), and 20-year-old John Tavares.

3) All the Panthers, amid their rocky and overhyped-as-being-effective re-building process, got in return for Ballard was glorified secondary scorer Steve Bernier and a late first-round pick this past summer in Quinton Howden, who, admittedly, may turn out to be the next Gretzky, but probably not.



Call this a steal for the Islanders, probably more so than Schremp was. Despite some nifty shootout skills, Schremp may never live up to the lofty expectations he seems to have set for himself. Judge for yourself, based on the interview below... is he setting the bar too high for himself or has he missed his true calling as a fortune teller?





How would you rather have (hypothetically): Grabner or Schremp???