Tavares finds new home in New York

The New York Islanders have won the Tavares lottery, finally giving their fans something to cheer about. The draft lottery went exactly according to plan with all teams falling into their expected spots. The Lightning are headed to the draft podium second as they have captured the right to select Victor Hedman.

1 New York Islanders

2 Tampa Bay Lightning

3 Colorado Avalanche

4 Atlanta Thrashers
5 Los Angeles Kings

This marks the potential turn around for the New York Islanders, a team who by far had the worst team in the NHL this season. Lacking a true scorer the Isles may have found what they are looking for in Tavares. I believe he is a better fit for the team than Hedman as puck moving defenseman are about the only thing the Islanders have right now.

Tampa Bay will be very happy to acquire what will instantly be their team's best defenseman, Victor Hedman. I believe that there was a great chance that the Lightning would have selected Hedman even if they were assigned the 1st overall pick, sure many people say to draft with the best player available, but Hedman is really the best fit for the team.

Interestingly enough, every team that has chosen with the first overall selection since 2002 is in the playoffs this year (at the exception of Tampa Bay who have more issues than someone on Maury Povich). Columbus (Rick Nash), Pittsburgh (M.A. Fleury), Washington (Alex Ovechkin), Pittsburgh (Sidney Crosby), St-Louis (Erik Johnson) and Chicago (Patrick Kane) are all being lead by their former picks, except for St-Louis who have now banned the use of golf carts for all players.

Whether or not Tavares can have a miracle season, the Isles will more than likely be in the top 5 lottery slots again next year. Either way, someone fire up the NYI bandwagon, you're about to get a lot of followers.

Omark signs with Dynamo Moscow

Well if you hadn't heard about this year's Youtube.com sensation, Linus Omark, it's too late to get excited about him in the NHL.

Sorry to break the news Oilers fans, but poor little Linus has decided to sign in Russia with Dynamo Moscow for about 8 times more money than he would have received playing for Springfield. His team mate Johan Harju (Tampa Bay 6th Round pick in 2007) also makes the journey to the land of the Rouble.

Both players were thrilling for the Lulea club of the SEL this year and their respective NHL organizations had high hopes for the two. Unfortunately the alure of money has ripped them away.

Omark was third in the SEL in scoring with 23-32 in 53 games and Harju finished the year in seventh spot with 27-22 in 55 games. This probably marks disaster for the Lulea team who were boosted largely by these two players along with goaltender Mattias Modig. Modig is under contract through the 09/10 season however the SEL contracts are broken as easily as a hollywood wedding. Modig was stellar for Lulea posting a .922 SVP in 2008-2009.

Oh and in case anyone was wondering, Jaromir Jagr and a decent season this year with 25 goals and 28 assists in 55 games for Omsk Avangard. Not bad for 10 million per season.

Lastly, my condolences to other Habs fans out there for the loss of Markov and Schneider. It really hurts to lose those two at this time in the season but it just seems as though the hockey gods aren't picking Montreal to win it in their 100th season. At any rate, I wish the Habs the best of luck as they look to not get swept by Boston in the first round (I figure it will line up that way).