6 in 61

If the Isles do finish last, they will have 5 picks in the first 2 rounds, plus the first pick in the third round. That's 6 out of roughly 61 or so picks (the 6th pick will be a little later than 61 because there are compensatory picks made in the second round.)

Regardless of when the sixth pick falls, the Isles will certainly hope not to repeat the drafting of another NY team, who had 6 early picks in the 2004 draft: the Rangers.

Of the first five,
2004 Entry 6 1 Al Montoya G U. of Michigan [NCAA]
2004 Entry 19 1 Lauri Korpikoski L TPS Jrs. (Finland)
2004 Entry 36 2 Darin Olver L Northern Michigan University [NCAA]
2004 Entry 48 2 Dane Byers L Prince Albert Raiders [WHL]
2004 Entry 51 2 Bruce Graham C Moncton Wildcats [QMJHL]

only Byers had played a regular season NHL game prior to this season (Korpikoski had appeared in one playoff game and is nearly a regular this season)

The Rangers made up for it a bit with the 6th pick:

2004 Entry 60 2 Brandon Dubinsky C Portland Winter Hawks [WHL]

(They also picked Ryan ("the Better") Callahan in that draft)

The Isles fared only slightly better in 2004, drafting Nokelainen and Comeau in the first two rounds, and adding Chris Campoli with pick #227. (Steve Regier was also in that drafted; he played 18 games for the Isles with nary a point.) Ironically two of the first five picks the Isles currently have for this June will be from picks that they acquired in trades for Nokelainen and Campoli.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982.