Snow deserves a lot of credit

[blinkman360]

You get it. Snow has done some good things, but on the whole he squanders assets. I don't know if he gets how this hurts the team 3-5 years down the road. He probably doesn't care. By then he's been replaced.

3-5 Years From Now:

Tavares: 27-29
Okposo: 29-31
Nelson: 25-27
Strome: 24-26
Lee: 27-29
Dal Colle: 21-23
Ho-Sang: 21-23
Nielsen: 33-35
Grabner: 30-33
Kulemin: 31-33
Grabovski: 33-35
Martin: 28-30
Cizikas: 26-28
Clutterbuck: 30-32

Hamonic: 27-29
de Haan: 26-28
Leddy: 26-28
Boychuk: 33-35
Hickey: 28-30
Reinhart: 23-25
Pulock: 23-25
Mayfield: 24-26
Pelech: 23-25

Halak: 32-34


You're right. We are in pretty big trouble 3-5 years from now.

By that point, we'll have all of THREE members of our core on the wrong side of 30: Okposo, Nielsen, and Boychuk. We also may very well have drafted another 2-4 1st round talents. Not to mention the picks that will undoubtedly be accumulated from guys like Bailey/Grabner/Grabovski/Hickey/maybe even Vis. As the young talent continues to mature, they will gradually force their way into the lineup, and forcing others out. Some of those forced out players will carry value. It's very possible that we'll be able to add a couple of extra 2nd's over the next few years. Maybe even a 1st.

People want to complain about the length of the rebuild, but the one thing it allows you to do is lose prospects like Nino, a '13 2nd, a '15 1st and 2nd, and still be far from "mortgaging" the future. One of the perks of overstocking. If anything, all losing those players/picks did was prevent us from making a 2nd deadline splash.

Even without counting all the young talent we have at the NHL level, our farm system is still widely considered to be top-10 around the league. To think we are currently in some 3-5 year window is insane.

 

[PWJunior]

3-5 Years From Now:

Tavares: 27-29
Okposo: 29-31
Nelson: 25-27
Strome: 24-26
Lee: 27-29
Dal Colle: 21-23
Ho-Sang: 21-23
Nielsen: 33-35
Grabner: 30-33
Kulemin: 31-33
Grabovski: 33-35
Martin: 28-30
Cizikas: 26-28
Clutterbuck: 30-32

Hamonic: 27-29
de Haan: 26-28
Leddy: 26-28
Boychuk: 33-35
Hickey: 28-30
Reinhart: 23-25
Pulock: 23-25
Mayfield: 24-26
Pelech: 23-25

Halak: 32-34


You're right. We are in pretty big trouble 3-5 years from now.

By that point, we'll have all of THREE members of our core on the wrong side of 30: Okposo, Nielsen, and Boychuk. We also may very well have drafted another 2-4 1st round talents. Not to mention the picks that will undoubtedly be accumulated from guys like Bailey/Grabner/Grabovski/Hickey/maybe even Vis. As the young talent continues to mature, they will gradually force their way into the lineup, and forcing others out. Some of those forced out players will carry value. It's very possible that we'll be able to add a couple of extra 2nd's over the next few years. Maybe even a 1st.

People want to complain about the length of the rebuild, but the one thing it allows you to do is lose prospects like Nino, a '13 2nd, a '15 1st and 2nd, and still be far from "mortgaging" the future. One of the perks of overstocking. If anything, all losing those players/picks did was prevent us from making a 2nd deadline splash.

Even without counting all the young talent we have at the NHL level, our farm system is still widely considered to be top-10 around the league. To think we are currently in some 3-5 year window is insane.

He's just a bitter Minnesota fan who knows his team is a pretender and will never accomplish anything of consequence as their high priced stars continue to age. The stupid contracts given out, the cap not going up... they won't be getting any better than they are now. Getting away with smoke and mirrors for now in the high powered West.

 

[bigtim1988]

Snow was not placed in a perfect situation. Milbury gave him no prospects and basically no team. So let's look into some of the questionable decisions Snow has made over the years.

Ryan Smyth:

Hindsight is great and all but this was highway robbery at the time for Edmonton, we gave them a first and two of our best prospects for not even half a season and Ryan Smyth. And if you believe rumors he traded Blake at the deadline as well

The 08 Draft:

Many could not understand why Snow kept trading down in this draft. Filatov was the answer and WE knew that but why couldn't Garth get that through his thick skull? Got some really solid guys out of this draft so this is a win for Snow.

The trading up to get CDH:

After the hype from JT I thought we were going to draft another foward but Snow stuck to his guns and drafted a smallish defenseman with loads of hockey IQ. I'm sure many will say this is already a win but I'll wait until the end of the year to see how he develops and how he holds up. I would say this is still in progress.

This is where MANY start to question his decisions..

Tim Thomas:


El Nino:
Everybody knows Isles are in need of goaltending help. Two young studs out there in Schnieder and Bernier. We get neither. We got Clutterbuck. Should've held onto this guy if that's what we were going to get. Asset management folks was disgusting here.

The Offseason:
This was where I started to dislike Snow. Team overachieved and guess what Garth did guys? Nothing at all. This was an absolute joke of an offseason starting with the draft.

Vanek Deal:
Tried to bring a superstar in and failed. Then traded him for a not so great package at he deadline.

This Offseason:
Major win. Addressed basically all of our problems.

If anything, I was more worried about the 2007 pick being in the top 10; I didn't exactly shed a tear about losing nilsson and o'marra tho, as I was never really impressed with either of them--Nilsson especially. The 2007 draft wasn't exactly deep at the time, so a first rounder from that draft was far from a sure thing. I pretty much agree with the rest of the points.

I think garth has a very keen eye when it comes to finding, and realizing NHL talent; I am sure that he learned a lot watching the game all those years as a backup. I believe the team would have been better sooner if he wasn't under any financial constraints. Isles payroll was bottom of the barrel for years, team gets sold, payroll is now in middle of the pack. how ironic

I've been a snow supporter since day one; even when everyone else thought it was crazy (i thought it was a little strange, but not as bad as everyone else made it seem) I realized after the lockout with a salary cap in place, the only way to build a peranneal contender was through the draft, and to suffer through a few lean years. After the Milbury massacre, and realizing how good that team could have been I was willing to suffer with some lousy seasons.

Last season really tested my patience however; they had everything in place to build off making the playoffs in the shorted season, but garths failure to address glaring weaknesses throughout the lineup was a big reason why last season was the season from hell. It was a far bigger disappointment than 09'-10', 10'-11', and 11'-12'. I don't count 08'-09' as a disappointment because I wanted tavares; the most hyped prospect since crosby at the time. i remember news 12 mentioning something about him, and showing highlights toward the end of that season for christ sakes.

I think we've been exposed to losing for so long, and this team has been the underdog pretty much since the cup years, that we do not fully realize how special of a team we have right now. Snow did exactly what he needed to do to bring this team to the next step.

 

[Brooklanders*]

I was a huge Snow supporter until the Nino trade.
Things got worse from there.
He redeem himself but I'm still upset at certain things. In the end I love what the team has done.
Snow is lucky we have such great scouts because our drafting is great.
But trading away the good drafted players for immediate help is friggin dumb.

 

[Chrisinroch]

He's just a bitter Minnesota fan who knows his team is a pretender and will never accomplish anything of consequence as their high priced stars continue to age. The stupid contracts given out, the cap not going up... they won't be getting any better than they are now. Getting away with smoke and mirrors for now in the high powered West.

Dear Insecure Kool Aid drinker,

If you want to talk Wild, go to the Wild board. This is the Islanders board.

Judging you from your writing, I've been an Islanders fan longer than you've been alive.

 

[Chrisinroch]

I was a huge Snow supporter until the Nino trade.
Things got worse from there.
He redeem himself but I'm still upset at certain things. In the end I love what the team has done.
Snow is lucky we have such great scouts because our drafting is great.
But trading away the good drafted players for immediate help is friggin dumb.

Drafting has been really good. The scouting department needs to see some fat Christmas bonuses

 

[RMimagery]

Dear Insecure Kool Aid drinker,

If you want to talk Wild, go to the Wild board. This is the Islanders board.

This is your retort?

Of course ignore all the talk about how the Isles will be better in 3-5 years with players like Nelson, Strome, de Haan, Lee, Reinhart, Pulock, Dal Colle, Ho Sang etc gaining valuable experience while Tavares is still in his prime and hardly any core players over 30...ooooh, getting goosebumps.

The Isles should be a top 5 team by then but carry on.

 

[ScaredStreit]

This is your retort?

Of course ignore all the talk about how the Isles MIGHT be better in 3-5 years with players like Nelson, Strome, de Haan, Lee, Reinhart, Pulock, Dal Colle, Ho Sang etc gaining valuable experience while Tavares is still in his prime and hardly any core players over 30...ooooh, getting goosebumps.

The Isles should be a top 5 team by then but carry on.

Fixed that for you.

 

[Strome18]

Bump for those negative nellies that like to **** on Garth Snow. Suck it and how do you like them apples, now?

 

[A Pointed Stick]

Bump for those negative nellies that like to **** on Garth Snow. Suck it and how do you like them apples, now?

Everyone wants this club to win man.

Amazing what an injection of real payroll can do.

 

[Strome18]

Everyone wants this club to win man.

Amazing what an injection of real payroll can do.

Agreed but the GM still had to be the face to be crapped on though he had his hands tied. So to that extent, the negative nellies deserve their time to shine now. Come ScaredStreit and Hip of Rick, show some of your negative venom.

 

[Quicklime]

Everyone wants this club to win man.

Amazing what an injection of real payroll can do.

This. Part of why I like Snow. I'll see your 8 years of hate and raise you a young, strong, wicked hockey team once the purse strings are loose.

 

[blinkman360]

Fixed that for you.

I also might win the lottery tomorrow, but some things are more likely to happen than others. This core is fantastic - surely you can see that. Maybe we'll need a coaching change at some point, and maybe we'll eventually want to upgrade in net - but the hard part is done. The players that have been accumulated up front and on defense is something we were fantasizing about years ago.

Either way, I get it that you want to be cautious. I just hope you are enjoying what you are watching at the moment. Otherwise, what's the point?

 

[YearlyLottery]

Agreed but the GM still had to be the face to be crapped on though he had his hands tied. So to that extent, the negative nellies deserve their time to shine now. Come ScaredStreit and Hip of Rick, show some of your negative venom.

I'll bite. You find an excuse why Snow was sleeping last offseason and dealt off our prime trading assets for Clutterbuck and nothing else.

 

[A Pointed Stick]

This. Part of why I like Snow. I'll see your 8 years of hate and raise you a young, strong, wicked hockey team once the purse strings are loose.

Credit where credit is due...

How long has Lowedmonton been working on that rebuild?

Where are they today? So Snow did something right... I just wish he had the green light to spend last season.

 

[LeapOnOver]

I'll bite. You find an excuse why Snow was sleeping last offseason and dealt off our prime trading assets for Clutterbuck and nothing else.

Asset you mean? Where are you getting Assets unless Nino was miraculously two players just skating really close to each other.

 

[Strome18]

Everyone wants this club to win man.

Amazing what an injection of real payroll can do.

I'll bite. You find an excuse why Snow was sleeping last offseason and dealt off our prime trading assets for Clutterbuck and nothing else.

Clutter was a result of the budget crunch by Wang and the poor excuse of a baby (niño) and is nitwit agent. That being said the teammates on this team did not like niño (my opinion). The team comes first and he was a detriment to team chemistry. Time to move on from that asshat.

 

[Bronson]

...and Clutterbuck has proved to be really valuable in his own right. Good trade imo.

 

[Duanesutter12]

This! Clutter is really underappreciated as an Isle. He's a great agitator that actually has NHL skills. His skating ability also fits in very well with this team system.

...and Clutterbuck has proved to be really valuable in hos own right. Good trade imo.

 

[Bronson]

People sell him short too often. We have plenty of goal scorers on the team without Nino. Not many players in the league bring the defensive awareness and agitating skills like Cal. Meanwhile, Minny is the softest team in the league and still can't score goals.

 

[MichaelK]

People sell him short too often. We have plenty of goal scorers on the team without Nino. Not many players in the league bring the defensive awareness and agitating skills like Cal. Meanwhile, Minny is the softest team in the league and still can't score goals.

The progress of Nelson and Strome together with signings/trades this offseason made that noticeable but last year was a different story. Except for the time between Vanek clicking and JT getting hurt, we really struggled whenever we got behind. Even 1 goal deficits with a lot of time left we seemingly could not overcome. This year we are 7-1 when the opposition scores first. I don't think we were that good at any point last year

 

[Bronson]

True, but I don't think Nino would have made much of a difference for us last year. He had 14 goals and Cal had 12.

 

[Brooklanders*]

I can make a case that if JT isn't injured and Snow doesn't deal Vanek the Isles win a few more games. Maybe that would be true if we had Nino on the team last year over Cal as well. Who knows?
Our biggest problem isn't scoring now or then.
And all of us killed Snow, myself included for not getting a replacement for aging Nabby last Summer. However maybe Snow is some kind of evil genius. If we trade for Bernier or Khudobin that team would have certainly won more games. Same with having Boyle.
If all those things had happened the Isles would not have picked top 5 again.
We got MDC and Ho-Sang who look like future Islanders.
I'm glad we are winning now.

 

[ScaredStreit]

Agreed but the GM still had to be the face to be crapped on though he had his hands tied. So to that extent, the negative nellies deserve their time to shine now. Come ScaredStreit and Hip of Rick, show some of your negative venom.

Prove it.

edit: PS I can't speak for Hip of Rick but the majority of HF posters don't agree with you necessarily when it comes to myself, most don't think I spew "venom".

I was right about: Tambellini, Nilsson, Bergenheim, the Smyth trade, Nino asset handling, the Vanek trade, Vanek no re-signing here and going to Minny, us missing the playoffs last year, Nabby not being a good goaltender last year, Martin not being a legit 2nd liner....I can go on for days.

Am I wrong sometimes? Of course. But I'm right a lot--even when I'm in the slim minority. And my posts aren't over-emotional, they're usually based on what I see and logic. Some disagree and that's fine. BUT I think most posters (sans you and a few others) realize I'm not a troll just spewing "negative venom".

Stop being so melodramatic-it makes your posts lose some of their value.


PPS: If you were paying attention (and I doubt you were) to my posts at the end of the off-season I was VERY positive about the changes and the ONLY two things I've been negative about this year are Crappy and Johnson. That's it.

 

[Strome18]

Prove it.

edit: PS I can't speak for Hip of Rick but the majority of HF posters don't agree with you necessarily when it comes to myself, most don't think I spew "venom".

I was right about: Tambellini, Nilsson, Bergenheim, the Smyth trade, Nino asset handling, the Vanek trade, Vanek no re-signing here and going to Minny, us missing the playoffs last year, Nabby not being a good goaltender last year, Martin not being a legit 2nd liner....I can go on for days.

Am I wrong sometimes? Of course. But I'm right a lot--even when I'm in the slim minority. And my posts aren't over-emotional, they're usually based on what I see and logic. Some disagree and that's fine. BUT I think most posters (sans you and a few others) realize I'm not a troll just spewing "negative venom".

Stop being so melodramatic-it makes your posts lose some of their value.


PPS: If you were paying attention (and I doubt you were) to my posts at the end of the off-season I was VERY positive about the changes and the ONLY two things I've been negative about this year are Crappy and Johnson. That's it.

I will answer you PPS first, I saw them and was like "wow" he does care somewhat for this team, instead of bashing them all the time. Show me a GM or a team that has not had issues with asset management? Where are your credentials or insight as to what was available on the market for those assets? Nostradamus...

In regards to the word venom, when you spew hate it spreads like venom and attracts leaches. When I am wrong I come here and point it out. You and hip rather bash most years. This year not do much but you are still skeptical about this team in regards to your posts. Best Wishes!