A GM's tenure can not strictly be looked at as a moves he's won vs. moves he lost exercise, and there are Islander fans who have fallen into that trap, though, many have stopped drinking the Kool-Aid, which is good, as this organization has something of a history of listening, or at least reacting, to its fans. Though, not often or early enough.
Garth Snow has won his fair share of moves. Those moves are probably the ones that have helped him stay in office for nearly twelve full calendar years. He won the Ryan Smyth trade, though, he was unable to re-sign him. The Islanders that went the other way had either next to no, or literally, no career. He bought out Alexei Yashin, stock piled the 2008 draft (which also will ultimately result in an additional 2018 first round pick from Hamonic), drafted John Tavares, and had a pretty decent 2009 draft overall, swindled two picks out of Edmonton for the now-busted Griffin Reinhart, which resulted in Matt Barzal and Anthony Beauvillier. He would go back to the Oiler well again to heist Jordan Eberle for an unable-to-get-it Ryan Strome. It also appears as though he may have drafted a pending and legitimate sniper in Keiffer Bellows.
I won't argue that these aren't good moves. They are. And he is deserving of credit for them. He gets it. However, this is not management. This is acquisition. He held on to Jack Capuano for far too long, and after finally letting him go, he went back to the in-house well to hire Doug Weight, a move that is proving to be repetitive and exhaustive. He never put a qualified winger on Tavares' side. Yes, he tried with Thomas Vanek, but after that didn't work out, he just gave up. All of Tavares' wingers were shots in the dark, and they tend to disappear for extended periods of time.
With Garth Snow, it's either major headline news or nothing. And it's only major headline once or twice a year. More often that not, nothing happens in-season, and when it does, it's too late.
He couldn't figure out the three-headed monster that was the goaltending situation. He can't fire coaches and hire new ones who will be effective. He will not plug gaping holes in any position; whether it be Tavares' wing, a depleted defense, or faulty goaltending. He only deals with Peter Chiarelli, and why is that? Do other GMs just simply not want to deal with him? There was a GM that reportedly went hard after Brock Nelson, and Garth Snow said "no". Is he the only one who doesn't see how bad Brock Nelson is?
One of the problems is the narrow focus that's put on his good moves. It's not a problem with most fans anymore. Now, it's a problem with ownership. Eric Murphy wants to know exactly what Garth Snow has done to deserve such derision. It's Snow's activity in frequent inactivity that's doing this franchise in. He's the type of guy who mows the lawn and doesn't work for a year and his parents want to know, "Why didn't you load the dishwasher?" - and Garth frequently goes back to how great a job he did on the lawn. I can't speak for Garth's reaction to most things, but I know for sure that fans point to his good moves every time his termination comes up.
Again, yes, he has made good moves. But he hasn't managed this team into a winning situation. And as General Manager, that's his job. He can compile assets until the cows come home, but if the assets don't amount to an outstanding product, it doesn't matter what, or how many assets he has.
He's hired a coach who has been out of wins and out of answers for a few weeks now. He has a highly sought after center who could theoretically be playing for any team in six months time with nothing to show for him. Should this matter to the fans? Should this matter to the team? Yes, of course, because fans want to know, "Do I invest in season tickets next year if there's a Tavaresless team taking the ice?" - Ownership should be equally concerned with this. Snow is not managing the situation. As fans, we deserve to know where all this stands.
Most of us are older and experienced fans. With that said, don't try to sell on Barzal and Barzal alone should Tavares leave. We remember the days of Pat LaFontaine when he was all we had. The team wasn't good. At the time, a well-aged Bryan Trottier was not good enough to be the second line center, and we Brent Sutter didn't have the dynamic of assured offense enough to support a thriving second line. We certainly didn't have the wingers. So, if Tavares goes, we're right back where we started, and poorly managed, as has been expected for decades, now.
Don't look to Garth Snow's moves for solace. Trades are only a portion of a General Manger's job. It's General Manger, not General Acquisitionist. The reflection of a GM's success is the product on the ice, and the product on the ice hasn't been stellar. And no part of Garth Snow's performance has justified a dozen non-threatened years as the leader of this franchise.
