Tavares will be an Islander

The Great Debate. I'd sure love to join in. Several media outlets report different things. Isles beat writer, Greg Logan, believes the Islanders will be taking Matt Duchene 1st overall. Bob McKenzie of TSN says that it's Hedman. Chris Botta at NYI Point Blank has a strong feeling that Tavares is Snow's and Jankowski's guy.

It's a complete toss up. GM Snow is certainly not helping the fans' cause. We are all desperately reaching out our arms for some sort of hint. Nope. Nothing. Garth is being as professional as he can be.

My guess, and I really mean guess, is that Snow will be announcing John Tavares' name on Friday.

Thing is, not one of these bloggers has a single clue of what Snow's going to do. I don't have anything near the quality sources that the likes of Logan, McKenzie, and Botta have. But for once, my prediction has an equal chance of coming into effect as theirs.

A couple weeks ago, to be honest, I'd say Hedman was their guy. I've always wanted them to take Tavares, and in the back of my mind, somewhere, Snow agreed with me.

I'm not going to go into ridiculous detail of why it will be Tavares. Read Botta's blog for that (May I add, I'm a daily reader there and he has a lot of good stuff). Garth is not going to embarrass our fanbase again. This time, despite what he might be saying, he will be taking the popular choice. The Islanders are not selling 17,000+ free draft party tickets just to let the Coliseum explode with angry fans. Do not be fooled by the recent hype for Duchene, it's all a ploy to keep discussion alive.

I would go into further analysis, but at this point it's all opinion. The Islanders are drafting first overall. John Tavares will be an Islander.