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00:00So, your Islanders, they got the ping-pong balls all squared away.
00:06They got the number one pick.
00:07My question to you is, though, are they going to take the kid from Long Island, Higgins,
00:13because is there anyone that's that valuable as the number one pick?
00:18It's not like Bedard.
00:19It's not like Celebrini.
00:23There's no star player.
00:24Yeah, it's a great thing that the Islanders jumped up from 10th to 1st.
00:30They only had a 3.5% chance of winning the lottery, and the balls ended up going their way, and they got it.
00:38You know, you don't want to complain about that.
00:40The unfortunate part of it is this isn't the year where you have, like you say.
00:48This is not a year where there's a, I wish there was, but there's no Conor McDavid, Austin Matthews, you know, Conor Bedard.
01:01There's no doubt about it.
01:04Franchise-changing right out the gate player that is there to be taken at one.
01:09But there are three guys who are, right now, three or four guys who are in the running to be this top pick.
01:17And James Higgins, who's a Long Island kid, grew up an Islander fan, he is one of those guys who goes to Boston College.
01:25So he's going to be in the mix.
01:27This Matthew Schaefer, who's a defenseman from Canada, and Michael Mesa.
01:33And I watched some clips, because suddenly, you know, in the last 18 hours, now I'm interested in who the top pick in the NHL draft is going to be.
01:41This Mesa, I watched a lot of his stuff playing in the OHL, and he was.
01:46Who do you want?
01:47Do you want the kid from Long Island to come home and play for the Islanders?
01:51I mean, that's a, you know, nice story and everything.
01:54It's a nice story.
01:56And if it turns out that he's the absolute best player to pick, then I'll be in for it.
02:01But I am not just tied to whatever the nicest story is.
02:05I'm tied to who's going to be the most impactful player.
02:10And I know one thing.
02:11I watched his kid Mesa run around and do what he does out on the ice offensively.
02:15He was like, you want him.
02:17And I haven't seen a guy, like, wear an Islander jersey that could do stuff.
02:21Like, Barzell could do that stuff.
02:23But, like, he's extremely talented offensively.
02:26I'm sure there's holes in his game or else he'd be the number one, no doubt about it, guy.
02:31But, you know, defensemen are important, too.
02:36And where does Mesa play in the O?
02:40You know, now you're getting me a little bit too far.
02:43Let's see where he plays for.
02:48Mesa plays for, who's the Spirits, I guess?
02:52Whoever the Spirits are in the OHL.
02:54So, oh, here we go.
02:56Saginaw.
02:57He plays for Saginaw.
02:59Wigaby's worse.
03:00In the OHL.
03:01Yes.
03:01Saginaw, Michigan.
03:02Talk about hell.
03:06The Schaefer kid plays in the O also, the defense.
03:10And he kind of looks like a, just from watching four and a half minutes of video of him,
03:15again, only for the first time in the last day,
03:18he looks like a McCarr type.
03:20Like, he's a really skilled offensive defenseman who could move the puck.
03:25They've got themselves a few weeks to figure it out
03:27and hopefully get themselves a game-changing player at the top of the draft.
03:33Speaking of Celebrini, who was the top pick last year,
03:37he's a finalist for the Calder.
03:38There's the draft order, by the way.
03:40New York moved all the way up.
03:41Utah actually moved up to four as well.
03:44They were supposed to be at the back end, and they moved up too.
03:48So San Jose and Chicago had the two worst records.
03:50They'll pick second and third in the draft coming up.