Who will be the number 1 draft pick in the NHL draft?  

I don't really follow the Islanders but I don't think the Okposo/Bailey duo will scare anyone. I think Tavares is capable of matching the duo's combined total points next year. My guess is that the Islanders will buy into the hype that is Tavares. Is Wang still the owner?

Okposo's debut at the end of the 08 season was one of the biggest hyped debut's in recent Islander memory. Not even DiPietro got this much buzz. They truly believe that this is their star of the future. The Islanders found themselves on a nice roll at the end of the season last year as well and that's when Bailey started to find his own. They won't be a Crosby-Malkin, or Zetterberg-Datsyuk but I can see them being a Kane-Toews and the Islander faithful see it too. The thing that makes this so difficult to read is the comments the Islander management has made so far leading up to the draft. They feel like they should be drafting Tavares as the best overall talent in the draft but by that same token they also realize that they really need a defenseman. Hedman is the best defensive prospect since Bouwmeester and there isn't any immediate sign of there being another one quite like Hedman in the future. This is their shot at a franchise defenseman.

I guess it's new management but I still remember the Mike Milbury era. They had Chara, Luongo among others and they gave up on them too early. Is Snow an improvement over Milbury?

I think it's too early to tell. It's difficult to measure the success of a general manager on such a short term basis. It's not like a coach where immediate impact can be had. Sometimes he's handed a mess to fix before he can even put his own stamp on the team. A lot of their measures of success comes from the draft and you're not going to see immediate results from that as well. That being said, I think he's done a remarkable job of cleaning out what he was left with and establishing a good young core. They've just completed year 3 under Snow and now's about the time where you can start to look at him and ask where the results are. This next season is certainly a crucial one for Snow and the Islanders. If DiPietro can stay healthy (which is extremely unlikely) then they will have stability between the pipes. They have a good young offensive core. All they seem to be lacking is some defense, which is a a key ingredient no doubt, but the future looks much better today with Snow then it did a few seasons ago.

Looks like the Tavares era has started in Long Island.