Garth Snow's Incredibly Brutal Interview

New York Islander Fan Central | 12/30/2013 08:44:00 PM | |
Anyone's who's read this website knows Garth Snow does not get a free pass on his wordage when he makes definitive claims about his team/organization.

I don't care about fluff interviews or stock answers made in most interviews. 

I also understand in the context of a few minutes the words sometimes do not come out right (general managers are not required to be great public speakers) or the gm did not want to make headlines, however some of his statements in those few minutes bordered on absurd, and should make the man who pays his salary (and his own players/coaches) ask some hard questions of Mr Snow. 

Garth Snow signed some painfully ineffective UFA last summer, he traded for Cal Clutterbuck/Thomas Vanek. Those are not the owners moves or the coaches decisions. He also made his usual excellent signings of his core players.

In 2009 Mr Snow made clear he does not like to use the rebuilding word.

On 2/3/12 The entry here was Garth Snow now openly using rebuilding word  because he started using it in every interview.

Words have meaning. 

On 12/29/13 in those brief few minutes with Butch Goring, Garth Snow sounded like a man in denial or stuck between trying to do two/three plans at the same time. He even finally employed the words Mark Streit, who the gm should not be blamed for failing to resign because ultimately it takes two to agree to a contract.

Having written that this gm made clear from day one the expectation was to win now with most of the same roster returning. His team has struggled since day one of preseason.

Some Of Snow's Comments:
1-He completely ignored Goring asking him about trading for defense or as part of the deal for Thomas Vanek after correctly pointing out how tough it is to trade in the salary cap era where most players have no trade clauses. 

Yes, Mr Snow, you made arguably the biggest trade of the season, and as you said paid a big price to acquire Vanek, paying that price is not an accomplishment. 

Mr Goring failed to ask if Vanek can be retained or Andrew MacDonald. 

2-Calling a coaching staff's performance "incredible" (currently nine games under five hundred) which features the 30th ranked pk/and a powerplay that was operating at thirty percent in October that is now 23rd because it's been in free fall with no quarterback is an insult to our fans intelligence. As much as the coaches deserve credit for Frans Nielsen, they deserve the same very hard questions for Grabner/Bailey struggling to this degree.

Last I looked Hamonic, MacDonald, Bailey, Nielsen, Grabner, Cizikas, Martin, are all back killing penalties from 2012-13 which finished twenty first. 

Even the Florida Panthers (28 other clubs) hold some leads, and win some easy games while with this club that's virtually impossible.  Sure coaching deserves credit for being in position to win many of those games but to flat out lose leads in self-inflicted fashion to this degree must go on the coaching also.

Incredible to describing the coaching is not the word I would employ. 

3-Snow also gave no credit to the strong play of Kevin Poulin/Anders Nillson or the fact this team was struggling since the preseason, not when Nabokov got hurt when they were already in free fall.

4-Finally it seems Snow has his 2014-15 Scott Mayfield plan mixed up with his 2013-14 Matt Donovan plan that's looking like it's now backdated to 2014-15, or his 2013-14 go for it now Vanek offense plan, with the entire defense signed for next season. (less Andrew MacDonald)

The players who resigned here, who believe in this management, and felt the club was going in the right direction listened to this interview with their agents.

This website asked before, if Snow does not believe his own words, why should any else?

It's time to ask again.

Looking Ahead To 2014-15 For New York

New York Islander Fan Central | 12/24/2013 07:25:00 AM | | | | | | |
I am not expecting an announcement of Nassau County allowing Charles Wang to break his lease.

If that changes it likely has to be done no later than January 2014. There has been no marketing done to promote such a move by Barclay's people to build a season ticket base. 

I have no idea if Wang's 2009 sublease is still in effect with Smg in some capacity. (Smg handles booking again)

Smg (regardless of sublease) will want their money to the final day of the Islanders lease in July 2015, and even if the Isles left it would still require a buyout from Nassau County to vacate the remaining year.

Nassau County is not going to spend taxpayer money under any circumstances. Everything that happens they expect the developers to pay for the privilege.

Wang has another big hearing 2/4/14 on his Plainview property here. His hotel ownership has not changed, and he makes money off NHL teams/savings using it on Islander players.

Neulion on Long Island has exclusive rights to 2014/16 Olympics & Mr Wang's company spent 140m dollars for this.   Along with NHL, Mr Wang's company also has all Barclay's center video rights. (not Nets games)

If Bruce Ratner wants to walk away from his Coliseum legislature approval that's not even finalized because Nassau/TOH are doing nothing as usual, he can at any time.

If Ratner decides to do the NEC Coliseum project, is finally approved, and secures financing, the Nassau Coliseum closes August 2015, reopens Sept 2017.

By mid 2016, we'll likely know the story with Bridgeport, or if the NHL will allow the team to have two home arena's for regular season games.

Expect the answer to be no. All forty one home games will be at the Barclay's Center. 

On the ice the string will be played out in 2013-14. Some wins/many more losses. Too tough a schedule, and far too many weaknesses discussed at length here. This team has eight total goals from it's defense, four on the powerplay. A few corporate teams will exploit their financial advantages to close out the third seed in a weak division.

No team can win consistently without some scoring from it's defense or a power-play quarterback which no team is going give to Garth Snow in a trade. Thomas Hickey, Brian Strait, are in their first full season. Matt Donovan, Calvin deHaan, their second or third partial season. Hamonic is twenty three, MacDonald is not that player offensively with this group. I'm skeptical at Visnovsky's age if he will return at all despite being signed for 2014-15. Ironic a man who walked away from an auto racing accident sustained such a serious concussion on such an innocent play.

No coach can improve the issues on defense. No gm is giving away a defender signed long-term who can really help without a franchise player (Tavares) as the return.

We saw the bigger, older, veterans who could not score or play physical with Mottau, Eaton, Staios, Jurcina, at least this group is young with potential for improvement.

It's going to take years for the defenders in the system (Reinhart/Pullock/Mayfield/Pedan) unsigned defenders to be a factor here whether the gm/coach stay or go. 


Still make no mistake this team cannot use it's past massive injury numbers, it's a losing season plain and simple where winning was expected/promoted by management. They cannot hide from it, and deserve criticism. 

If the team works hard win or lose (they have worked hard to get into position to win despite results) I expect Jack Capuano will keep his job playing his veterans. There have been many teams that fall apart, losing games big for extended periods, that's when a coach is dismissed.

If the teams best defender Travis Hamonic is getting beat one on one by Kopitar, Crosby, Ovechkin why is a different coach going to play another defender in those circumstances?

I also suspect Garth Snow will keep his job despite Charles Wang not being shy about buying out big contracts because of fan pressure. Snow deserves some big criticism for the Clutterbuck trade.

As written about here already it's tough for many owners to find a compatible general manager or team President which is why many keep their jobs for years regardless of results. 

The UFA market the last few summers did not have a defender to address the loss of Mark Streit. 

Oddly Rick DiPietro started eighteen games in March/April 2013 risking his buyout if that was the intention from the moment he was demoted so these things usually are undecided until the final day.  

Perhaps an Andrew MacDonald resigning/likely not because we know the history by now, and suspect that's why he was split from Travis Hamonic, but both struggled together.

Calvin deHaan, Aaron Ness (despite big minus rating) are doing nothing to be sent down which is good news but leaves few spots.

Matt Donovan should be back for the second half of this season, big scoring defenders are a must here, he likely will take MacDonald's spot.  

Likely a trade of Nabokov by the deadline if healthy, but a moderate (conditional third) return.

Have seen nothing but solid work by Kevin Poulin/Anders Nilsson in front of a defense that implodes, no doubt both can split the work if necessary.

An attempt at resigning Thomas Vanek will not be with a contract front-loaded by thirty five percent which he will demand, and many corporate teams can/will offer because Charles Wang does not receive the taxpayer money of his counterparts in New York/New Jersey/or around NHL.

Unless Vanek really loves being here, risking money in a future buyout, he likely will have to be traded.

Solid first line player? Yes. Franchise superstar? No.

Has Tavares taken over games in the third period or produced any big goals with him? No, beyond Vanek's goal against Washington where the team had their worst collapse of all. 

After Andres Lee, Sundstrom, & Persson, Alan Quine that's it for the prospect depth at forward beyond Taylor Cammarata. Kabanov's done nothing to merit an NHL opportunity.

The folly of Kirill Petrov should finally be decided for good this summer. 

Expect Anders Lee to get a call, and see some time with Strome, Nelson in the NHL.

Scott Pellerin's done a solid job with a lot less than he had a year ago, his contract is up.

It is possible Pellerin could get the interim call to the NHL if things go off the rails completely with Capuano, but he's done nothing close to merit this.
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Even though the entries are becoming very infrequent here, I would like to wish everyone, and their families a Very Happy Holiday/Merry Christmas/New Year. 

Nothing Else Can Be Written For The 2013-14 New York Islanders

New York Islander Fan Central | 12/06/2013 12:38:00 PM | | | |
Sorry folks, it's completely pointless to keep repeating the same entries from early October that saw this coming even before the injuries. Capuano's firing or Garth Snow dismissal changes nothing.

For now they will sink with the veterans like Carkner, Martinek, Bouchard, Regin, Clutterbuck. Eventually Nelson, with more prospects (who were not Capuano's in Bridgeport) will become regulars.

Everyone's doing their best, it's not nearly enough.

It will only get worse.

If Snow were smart, he would do everything possible to resign Andrew MacDonald immediately because he's not replaceable (just as Mark Streit was not replaceable to this organization) and make his best effort to lock up Vanek. 

No individual would spend any more than Charles Wang has or purchase the team in this market with no taxpayer/corporate support as every other team receives to fund their payroll for the privilege of losing fifty million dollars (or more)  for the max payroll some demand.

No owner of this franchise can ever give you that.

You want max payroll/front-loaded signings from Charles Wang or any future Islander owner they need the taxpayer money/Lighthouse projects that other teams received or are getting quietly approved. (Edmonton, Detroit)

Wang should not be happy with the results for what he spent on Bailey, Grabner, Hamonic, Clutterbuck, however he should be thrilled with the below market based signings for Tavares/many others vs Wisniewski, Ehrhoff, Richards, Lundqvist.

They all demanded huge front-loaded money.

After fifty five goals in two years Michael Grabner should be producing. Bailey's drop off is stunning but perhaps all the changing positions finally caught up with him? 

I cannot improve on what was written earlier because a free fall was expected (even before Visnovsky was injured) & a three win November. 

The problems are not fixable because the defenders needed to change the biggest weakness are not available in trade (the entire league of quality defenders are pending UFA with a NTC/NVC) or ready to play at this level.

Want aging veterans? Go ask Florida how much signing Brian Campbell or Ed Jovanovski helped? 

My suggestion would be to read the Sept-Oct entries here again because unfortunately it played out exactly as expected even back to last summer.

There is nothing else left to write.