Speculation: Snow out, McPhee IN?

[The Underboss]

Snow's payroll is slightly below average at the moment, that's not being "handcuffed", that's not being able to get guys to sign.

Yeah, and how many years were we at the floor before that?

I think some people want to see what he can do if the new owners allow him to spend a little more.


He answers to 2 new bosses now, NOT Wang. Maybe the new guys will up the payroll and allow him to splurge a bit?

 

[ScaredStreit]

Obviously the guy who came out with this rumor had his wires crossed as far as his sources, because obviously they were dead wrong.

As far as Garth the GM. I'm the most negative SOB out there, but I'm gonna play Devil's Advocate on this one.

1) 22 other teams would have been happy to make the final 8 like the Islander's did as well as have 100 points in the regular season.

2) Tavares, Martin, Cizikas, Lee (25 goal season 2 years ago), Strome (50 point season 2 years ago), Nelson (two 20+ goal seasons under his belt), Hamonic, Pulock, & de Haan were all Snow draft choices currently on the team, and regardless of the success or failures they've had, they are important part of the team that got them as far as they did, especially in a subpar Tavares season.

3) With Pelech, Mayfield, Barzal, Dal Colle, Ho-Sang, Beauvillier and others (including goalie prospects 5 deep), Snow has assembled a very deep prospects pool, some of who may play a major part next season.

4) Shrewd trades getting us Leddy (maybe our best dman ?) Boychuck, Clutterbuck (hated the trade at first, love it now) & Halak helped our team tremendously reach 100 points 2 years in a row (first time in 34 years).

5) In his defense, when he took over in 2006, he was saddled with a wacky owner, who after making the playoffs that year, gutted the team and demanded a rebuild, not offering financial support (in the Free Agency department) until 6 or 7 years later.

So, I really feel normal franchises, when new owners come in, they usually gut the team's front office immediately. But the 2 seasons the new minority owners sat on the sideline, the team had back to back 100 point seasons and had 8 playoff game wins. Now as majority owners, I am not shocked Snow wasn't canned.

1) No team would be happy accomplishing what you should once every 3 years or so over the span of a decade

2) Tavares was a reward for icing (literally) the worst team in the NHL. Getting credit for drafting JT is like giving Snow credit for adding 1+1 successfully...actually more like failing math class and then adding 1+1 successfully after.

3) I say this every single off-season and slowly (but surely) people are realizing the simple truth: some prospects will reach their potential, some wont, we can't catch our chickens until they hatch.

4) I love Clutterbuck-I really do...but is he REALLY worth a 5th overall pick? No he's not, at the end of the day you don't use a 5th overall pick to end up with a 4th liner. Period.

5) When he took the team over in 2006 he took over a playoff team. His poor asset management is what crushed this team for nearly a decade.

Results are what matters. If you failed at your job for a decade you'd be fired-and so would I.

 

[ScaredStreit]

Yeah, and how many years were we at the floor before that?

I think some people want to see what he can do if the new owners allow him to spend a little more.


He answers to 2 new bosses now, NOT Wang. Maybe the new guys will up the payroll and allow him to splurge a bit?

There's been some awful contracts under Wang-but not due to refusing to spend.

Yashin, DP, Hamonic, Okposo, Leddy, Boychuk, Jaro, Smyth (offer), Guerin, Weight, Tavares, Nabby, Ehroff (offer)....none of these are chump change...when exactly did Wang stop spending? Maybe Snow just isn't able to get the job done.

 

[stranger34]

There's been some awful contracts under Wang-but not due to refusing to spend.

Yashin, DP, Hamonic, Okposo, Leddy, Boychuk, Jaro, Smyth (offer), Guerin, Weight, Tavares, Nabby, Ehroff (offer)....none of these are chump change...when exactly did Wang stop spending? Maybe Snow just isn't able to get the job done.

Garth Snow is a poor GM. Remember when his big plan was to build a winner around Thomas Vanek and Danny Boyle!

Remember when the pro-Snow crowd though he was in the catbird seat trading vanek at the deadline...

 

[A Pointed Stick]

I am done with him. Keeping Cappy and the rest of the Kindergarden coaching staff is too much for me.

Snow can go piss up a rope. If Ledecky and Malkin follow through with this then they can go piss up a rope as well. I don't want to hear anymore of this , "Well, we'll give it one more year, " bullsh*t. The time to make changes is this summer otherwise the owners will just get comfy with more one and done crap and we will wind up with a Sinden employing every drunk friend he knows situation for the next 20 years.

**** THAT!

 

[ScaredStreit]

It's just excuse after excuse after excuse...enough. Snow has failed and it is time to move on. Not being as bad a Milbury is like being the skinniest kid at fat camp.

 

[scott99]

1) No team would be happy accomplishing what you should once every 3 years or so over the span of a decade

2) Tavares was a reward for icing (literally) the worst team in the NHL. Getting credit for drafting JT is like giving Snow credit for adding 1+1 successfully...actually more like failing math class and then adding 1+1 successfully after.

3) I say this every single off-season and slowly (but surely) people are realizing the simple truth: some prospects will reach their potential, some wont, we can't catch our chickens until they hatch.

4) I love Clutterbuck-I really do...but is he REALLY worth a 5th overall pick? No he's not, at the end of the day you don't use a 5th overall pick to end up with a 4th liner. Period.

5) When he took the team over in 2006 he took over a playoff team. His poor asset management is what crushed this team for nearly a decade.

Results are what matters. If you failed at your job for a decade you'd be fired-and so would I.

Your #1, I get it, it's the reaction of a longtime battered fan, but taken on its own, what does the recent success have to do with 20 years ago ? They've made the playoffs 3 out of the last 4 years. Lots of teams would be thrilled to have done that. I think people's hatred of Cappy (I hate him too) is clouding their judgement.

Also, those who think Snow had carte blanche to spend to the cap from 2007-2013 are delusional. Also any free agents he might've tried to sign, he was saddled with a crappy minor league arena and an unknown future of where the team was headed (on ice product AND where the team was headed physically ? Quebec ? Kansas City ? ).

This is a good team, that is heading in the right direction, and has a slew of excellent prospects that will be added to a good team. This isn't a Stanley Cup winning caliber team just yet, but they are getting to that point slowly but surely. This team reminds me of the late 2000's Kings and Blackhawks, or for you old time Isle's fans, the 1976-79 Islanders. Headed in the right direction.

Let's see what the draft and Free Agency brings before we all start a *****fest.

 

[stranger34]

Your #1, I get it, it's the reaction of a longtime battered fan, but taken on its own, what does the recent success have to do with 20 years ago ? They've made the playoffs 3 out of the last 4 years. Lots of teams would be thrilled to have done that. I think people's hatred of Cappy (I hate him too) is clouding their judgement.

Also, those who think Snow had carte blanche to spend to the cap from 2007-2013 are delusional. Also any free agents he might've tried to sign, he was saddled with a crappy minor league arena and an unknown future of where the team was headed (on ice product AND where the team was headed physically ? Quebec ? Kansas City ? ).

This is a good team, that is heading in the right direction, and has a slew of excellent prospects that will be added to a good team. This isn't a Stanley Cup winning caliber team just yet, but they are getting to that point slowly but surely. This team reminds me of the late 2000's Kings and Blackhawks, or for you old time Isle's fans, the 1976-79 Islanders. Headed in the right direction.

Let's see what the draft and Free Agency brings before we all start a *****fest.

this is a good team heading in the right direction...

Would they be if Vanek and Boyle were here instead of Kulemin, Grabo, Leddy, and Boychuk?

Will they still be if they lose Martin, Kyle, and Frans (Entirely possible)

Do you trust Snow to adequately replace said players if he has to? (I don't)

 

[PK Cronin]

It's just excuse after excuse after excuse...enough. Snow has failed and it is time to move on. Not being as bad a Milbury is like being the skinniest kid at fat camp.

3 out of the past 4 years the team has made the playoffs. They just had back to back 100 point seasons. They just advanced for the first time in 23 years in the playoffs. I don't care about what he did in 2006, he's not the same GM as he was then, it's not the same team, it's not the same NHL. What I care about is what he's done recently and what he's going to do. The team has been seeing better results and I don't think it's fair to fire a guy for improving. If he makes a mistake or the team fails to improve again, I'd get rid of him. He has another year for me.

 

[scott99]

this is a good team heading in the right direction...

Would they be if Vanek and Boyle were here instead of Kulemin, Grabo, Leddy, and Boychuk?

Will they still be if they lose Martin, Kyle, and Frans (Entirely possible)

Do you trust Snow to adequately replace said players if he has to? (I don't)

Holy Schnickes guys. There are 30 teams in the NHL, only 10 had 100 points, the Isles were one of them. The teams with the top 2 records got bounced (or are about to get bounced) in same round as we did. 3 of the teams that were involved in the last two Stanley Cup Finals (Kings, Rangers & Blackhawks) got knocked out in the FIRST round. For Pete's sake guys, the Islanders have a good team, step away from the ledge.

I'm one of the most negative guys out there, but if you can't get excited about where this team is headed, new building, new owners, winning team, great prospects, I don't know what to tell you.

 

[LetsGoIslanders]

If anything, I think it's going to be McPhee as Director of Hockey Operations with Snow as GM. It may be the reverse. Maybe Weight loses his AGM designation.

 

[blitzkriegs]

I'll take the dissenting opinion route. Snow and McPhee have a long history together. McPhee was unemployed and in the good old boys network of the NHL, you need to be somewhere working to be part of the conversation - sitting on your butt at home doesn't land you your next gig. So, Snow brought on McPhee to help him out. Maybe there is a Ledecky maneuver behind all this, but could be nothing.

Remember, after Dean Lombardi got canned from SJ, he took time off, then took a scouting position for PHI until GM jobs opened and he landed LAK. The rest is history. Heck, Lombardi rehired Sutter as a coach for LAK AFTER he served as the GM in CAL.

 

[TheWhiteWhale30]

3 out of the past 4 years the team has made the playoffs. They just had back to back 100 point seasons. They just advanced for the first time in 23 years in the playoffs. I don't care about what he did in 2006, he's not the same GM as he was then, it's not the same team, it's not the same NHL. What I care about is what he's done recently and what he's going to do. The team has been seeing better results and I don't think it's fair to fire a guy for improving. If he makes a mistake or the team fails to improve again, I'd get rid of him. He has another year for me.

So much this. Everyone needs to stop *****ing...we could have it so much worse. Look at BOS and NYR right now. Zero future. Old aging players. Poor financial and asset management. Look at out prospect pool and current talent along with well managed cap. Garth is more then capable of doing a good job and has and will continue to.

 

[LeapOnOver]

1) No team would be happy accomplishing what you should once every 3 years or so over the span of a decade

2) Tavares was a reward for icing (literally) the worst team in the NHL. Getting credit for drafting JT is like giving Snow credit for adding 1+1 successfully...actually more like failing math class and then adding 1+1 successfully after.

3) I say this every single off-season and slowly (but surely) people are realizing the simple truth: some prospects will reach their potential, some wont, we can't catch our chickens until they hatch.

4) I love Clutterbuck-I really do...but is he REALLY worth a 5th overall pick? No he's not, at the end of the day you don't use a 5th overall pick to end up with a 4th liner. Period.

5) When he took the team over in 2006 he took over a playoff team. His poor asset management is what crushed this team for nearly a decade.

Results are what matters. If you failed at your job for a decade you'd be fired-and so would I.

1. Really, so there is an amount you are supposed to make the top 8 every 10 years? Nice try...that's a no.

2. And the rest? crickets...

3. Okay, but what is your point? Don't try to build a strong farm system because it's a crapshoot? How about the agents just rock paper scissors and pick a guy under your logic.

4. And the other trades?

5. That's what everyone's alluding too, how much was it his choice and not owners.

Results are what matters. Realistically owners don't think they should win the Stanley Cup every year and since it is actually, THEIR TEAM, they decide what they think good results are. If I was your boss, told you to type a certain amount of letters a day, write a certain amount of notes, and file a certain amount of paperwork, but provided you slowly with pens when the ink ran out, barely kept the printer full of ink, and didn't get new file cabinets when the old ones were filled, do you still think I would fire you and would it be reasonable to do that? Or would I accept the results knowing I didn't give you a lot to work with? And if you got a new manager and saw things hadn't been kept up the way you like, or had just finally started to get kept up and now you are doing a good job, I'm willing to be you would exercise some patience. Hmm, there's finally ink and new file cabinets and now back to back 100 point seasons and a trip to the second round...willing to see what else you can do worker.

It's still amazes me how fans confuse business and their own desires to see their team win. You aren't the owner, you can't think for them and your judgments on pass and fail come from a fan. They aren't the judgments of owners. Stop muddling the two.

 

[TheWhiteWhale30]

1. Really, so there is an amount you are supposed to make the top 8 every 10 years? Nice try...that's a no.

2. And the rest? crickets...

3. Okay, but what is your point? Don't try to build a strong farm system because it's a crapshoot? How about the agents just rock paper scissors and pick a guy under your logic.

4. And the other trades?

5. That's what everyone's alluding too, how much was it his choice and not owners.

Results are what matters. Realistically owners don't think they should win the Stanley Cup every year and since it is actually, THEIR TEAM, they decide what they think good results are. If I was your boss, told you to type a certain amount of letters a day, write a certain amount of notes, and file a certain amount of paperwork, but provided you slowly with pens when the ink ran out, barely kept the printer full of ink, and didn't get new file cabinets when the old ones were filled, do you still think I would fire you and would it be reasonable to do that? Or would I accept the results knowing I didn't give you a lot to work with? And if you got a new manager and saw things hadn't been kept up the way you like, or had just finally started to get kept up and now you are doing a good job, I'm willing to be you would exercise some patience. Hmm, there's finally ink and new file cabinets and now back to back 100 point seasons and a trip to the second round...willing to see what else you can do worker.

It's still amazes me how fans confuse business and their own desires to see their team win. You aren't the owner, you can't think for them and your judgments on pass and fail come from a fan. They aren't the judgments of owners. Stop muddling the two.

Also this. Everyone should just be happy Snow was patient and has this team setup to make the playoffs for the next decade. Team is just entering it's window and has a huge prospect pool of high end talent.

 

[LeapOnOver]

Snow's payroll is slightly below average at the moment, that's not being "handcuffed", that's not being able to get guys to sign.

And we have been winning because of it. Are you trying to prove the point or disprove it?

Spending goes up, winning goes up. That's the way it should be. Or do you want it to be like past Ranger teams where spending goes up and winning goes down. Maybe that's what you think is success?

 

[Hip Of Rick*]

And we have been winning because of it. Are you trying to prove the point or disprove it?

Spending goes up, winning goes up. That's the way it should be. Or do you want it to be like past Ranger teams where spending goes up and winning goes down. Maybe that's what you think is success?

We won one playoff series. Its not a huge accomplishment. 100 points is fun and all but when 1/3 of the league does it every year whoop dee do.

Snow and his staff have proven they are losers. Raise the freaking bar.

 

[stranger34]

Holy Schnickes guys. There are 30 teams in the NHL, only 10 had 100 points, the Isles were one of them. The teams with the top 2 records got bounced (or are about to get bounced) in same round as we did. 3 of the teams that were involved in the last two Stanley Cup Finals (Kings, Rangers & Blackhawks) got knocked out in the FIRST round. For Pete's sake guys, the Islanders have a good team, step away from the ledge.

I'm one of the most negative guys out there, but if you can't get excited about where this team is headed, new building, new owners, winning team, great prospects, I don't know what to tell you.

the team was worse than last year IMO

the new building is a negative IMO

new owners - we'll see how they are

winning team - meh

great prospects - Not counting my chickens...

 

[Bones45]

3 out of the past 4 years the team has made the playoffs. They just had back to back 100 point seasons. They just advanced for the first time in 23 years in the playoffs. I don't care about what he did in 2006, he's not the same GM as he was then, it's not the same team, it's not the same NHL. What I care about is what he's done recently and what he's going to do. The team has been seeing better results and I don't think it's fair to fire a guy for improving. If he makes a mistake or the team fails to improve again, I'd get rid of him. He has another year for me.

Kinda my thoughts as well. While neither Snow nor Capuano truly impress me, you have to look at the #"s they have put up and the team's results in the past several years.

Not point in removing people whose decisions are resulting in W's on the ice.


(Especially when you don't have an obvious replacement)

 

[Hip Of Rick*]

Anyone defending Snow should not bad mouth Capuano at all next season. He will continue to make the same mistakes as he has the past 6 years and if the GM you defend thinks its good enough than so should you

 

[Dutch Frost]

Yeah, and how many years were we at the floor before that?

I think some people want to see what he can do if the new owners allow him to spend a little more.


He answers to 2 new bosses now, NOT Wang. Maybe the new guys will up the payroll and allow him to splurge a bit?

Yeah we all said the same thing about Mike Milbury.. hes a smart GM who knows what he is doing but has cheap owners. Once Wang and Kumar come in all is gonna be great. Lets give him 2 more seasons with a guy whose not afraid to spend.

What did we get??? We spent for guys and never made it out of the first round and refused to add pieces to solidify any legit run.

Oh and we drafted Rick Dipietro, Chose Nilsson over Parise and anyone know if Nokoleinin and Bergenheim are still alive?

time to move on kids!!!!

 

[Dutch Frost]

3 out of the past 4 years the team has made the playoffs. They just had back to back 100 point seasons. They just advanced for the first time in 23 years in the playoffs. I don't care about what he did in 2006, he's not the same GM as he was then, it's not the same team, it's not the same NHL. What I care about is what he's done recently and what he's going to do. The team has been seeing better results and I don't think it's fair to fire a guy for improving. If he makes a mistake or the team fails to improve again, I'd get rid of him. He has another year for me.

Well youve given Josh Bailey 8 years and so your longevity for mediocrity never ceases to amaze me PK.

 

[scott99]

the team was worse than last year IMO

the new building is a negative IMO

new owners - we'll see how they are

winning team - meh

great prospects - Not counting my chickens...

Nothing but a Stanley Cup will make you happy stranger34, I get it. But you can't deny the facts. This is a good team, that will only get better. The negative new building was ROCKING in the playoffs, very loud. I believe they finished with 2 less wins (but only 1 less point), but 2 more playoff wins than last year, all without their #1 goalie, so I don't know how they were worse than last year.

Though I agree they were somewhat inconsistent, goal scoring was down from the year before, but their penalty kill was excellent, and goaltending was better, especially the backup goalie. Results wise, regular season virtually the same, playoffs they were better this year than in 2014-15.

 

[JohnTonelliRises]

I think Snow has had a relatively good tenure here, but at this point, if he isn't willing to part ways with Cappy, then he has to go too.

Cappy is just a myopic coach at this point, he's one-dimensional and it's glaringly obvious to anyone who has watched any of the playoff series he has coached. He's consistently outmaneuvered by opposing teams.

 

[ScaredStreit]

Simply making the playoffs is NOT an accomplishment since average teams make the playoffs in the nhl. We need higher standards.