As of now, they are seven points out of a playoff spot with only 14 games remaining. So giving the younger players a chance isn't a bad idea. The Islanders are in a strange spot as they don't own that many prospects after you get through Ho-Sang, they have experienced players including Tavares and Eberle, and they own more than their share of picks early in the upcoming draft, and they don't have a second or third round pick in the 2019 draft.

While giving the young guns a chance isn't a bad idea for right now, I think that the focus of this off-season (other than re-signing Tavares) should be fixing the goaltending. Trading some of this years picks could help them to do that. Once that is fixed, they are at least a playoff team. Especially given that Barzal and Beauvillier will be in their 2nd and third seasons and not just a rookie and a young player.

They’d be better off tanking for dahlin

I agree with what you say, but I’m not sure we could get a true starter just by trading picks. Are there any true starters available at the draft? Personally, I’d celebrate a trade for Lehner, but he’s definitely not a true starter. In my opinion, the Isles should give Gibson half of the remaining 14 games, see if he’s any good, then let either him or Greiss back up either Raanta or Lehner (assuming we can acquire either) next year.

Unless of course Tavares walks in Free Agency. Then we trade Lee, Eberle, Bailey and Ladd and stockpile picks while turning the keys almost entirely over to Barzal, Beau, Bellows, Ho-Sang, Pulock and Aho. And whoever we draft this year, of course (I’m hoping Dobson and Noel; we desperately need big bodies).

Not going to lie, that’s part of why I want to see this happen. I doubt giving Ho-Sang/Aho/Nelson increased roles helps our team in the standings. I think the freefall would continue, but at least we could see where these players are at individually.

I doubt we fall hard enough for first overall, but maybe we can fall to a 5th-8th pick and grab Boqvist or Wahlstrom. If we don’t, I’m content with drafting at 10th and 14th. That’s good for some combo of Wahlstrom/Veleno/Dobson/Bouchard. And personally, I’m hoping Garth does the one thing he’s good at: draft maneuvering. I’d love to see him pitch a mid level prospect and a 2nd for a late 1st round pick. Walking away with two of the aforementioned prospects+Woo/Noel/Miller would be a hell of a haul for the Isles.

They could probably swing one of the picks for a solid roster player on a team in need of a rebuild

I don’t know. Our prospect pool has some serious holes in it (RHD, RW, C, anything not “left handed”). Do you have someone specific in mind? Justin Faulk comes to mind for me, but I don’t see Carolina wanting to break up their defense. Maybe Scandella? Though I’m not thrilled with the idea of trading a lottery pick for someone that old.

Or we could hope to get lucky, have one of our picks land in the Top 3 and either draft Dahlin or trade the 2nd or 3rd pick to Arizona as part of a deal for OEL. But that’s highly unlikely to happen.

Give your fans hope, don't trade the picks. Won't Calgary fans be disappointed this draft, team out of playoffs and not having their top two picks.
If Tavares leaves, gotta spend that money you had allotted for him wisely on other players, not having the 4.5m Halak helps too. But like most teams, the Isles are going to have get better internally. Are those young Dmen really NHLer?. If they are, that's a good start.

If the Isles lose Tavares, which is exceedingly likely, they’ll have two choices.

They can try to use the extra cap space to sign free agents and attempt to make it back to the playoffs next year. Personally, I think that’s a bad idea. There aren’t a whole lot of decently young free agents, so it’d likely involve signing people like Carlson or Stastny; good skaters now who will command big contracts (6-7m at 7 years) and could start declining at any moment. And doesn’t that sound familiar? (Ladd)

The second option is to, as you put it, build from within. The good news is, we’re off to a good stsrt with Barzal, Pulock, Beauvillier, Aho and there’s still hope for Ho-Sang and maybe even a middle 6 role for Dal Colle. Bellows, Toews, Wotherspoon and Soderstrom also look strong. And with two lottery picks this year, that pool of young talent will only get better. The problem is, our AHL team has a terrible track record for developing talent. Nino, Reinhart, Strome, Dal Colle all fell far short of lofty potentials while developing in Bridgeport. Meanwhile Barzal, Beauvillier and Aho, none of whom spent much time in Bridgeport, all make good progress in the NHL.

In short, the Isles will need to change management before they can start deciding whether to rely on Free Agency or internal development and drafting. Neither will work under the current coaching staff, especially in Bridgeport.