Why It Might Be Time For A Change : The Right Reasons

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Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Joe Powers

A Case for Capuano that even Clarence Darrow couldn’t win.

Among the Islander faithful these days it is an almost universally held belief that Islander coach Jack Capuano is on his last legs with the team. The Isles have suffered loss after loss, usually by failing to rebound fully after falling into an insurmountable hole during a short stretch of the game.

On at least two occasions the team allowed three goals in about five minutes or less, and never recovered. Earlier in the season goal scoring wasn’t a problem – as I noted in an earlier article the team had three of the ten top scorers, and their power play was in the top third of the league. But is the criticism too harsh? Is there a case for Capuano?

Fast forward to Saturday’s tilt with Washington. The Isles scored just two goals – a total they’ve exceeded just once in their last six outings – and lost their third straight home game. Ironically, by taking the Caps to overtime the team scored a minor victory – the point they picked up for the OT loss was the first they’d earned in two full weeks.

Throughout all of this, Capuano’s name has been on the tip of every fan’s tongue. He’s killing the team, they say. He’s mismanaging the talent. He won’t reunite the successful line of Josh Bailey, Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo. The team called up Calvin de Haan, and Capuano didn’t dress him. Rookie Matt Donovan played his heart out for him, and he had him sent to Bridgeport.

Even those who wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt have, for the most part, thrown their lot in with the dissenters and taken up the cry for Capuano’s head on a stake. Every armchair expert in the Islander Nation, it seems, has bought in.

The players, naturally, have spoken in Capuano’s defense. Is that going through the motions, saying the right things at the right times, or do they have genuine affinity for their coach? The former is the case, in all likelihood. On the other hand, John Tavares has blossomed under Capuano, from first overall draft pick to Hart Trophy finalist. Surely the man who’s taken heat for derailing Nino Niederreiter’s career would have had a negative impact on such a budding superstar as Tavares?

Isn’t Capuano the guy who took the team to the playoffs last season? The guy under whom they almost toppled the archrival Penguins? Yes, he is. And it should be noted that this season’s team is, by and large, not that different from the team that had the entire league watching last spring.

The coach can’t be blamed for a rash of injuries, of that there is no question. But a great coach is able to make the most of a bad situation, and it could be argued that gaping defensive holes and goaltending woes aside, the Isles have enough talent to have picked up at least some of the points that have slipped away from them.

The key is the mindset, and especially with a young and inexperienced team the proper mental focus must be initiated by the coach.

But what about the fact that Capuano is, inexplicably, the second winningest coach in Islander history?

That’s right, this season Capuano passed Peter Laviolette – the frontrunner for the job in many fans’ minds – on the Isles’ all-time list. Surely that counts for something, doesn’t it? Yes… and no. Capuano took longer to get there. And he only had to get to 78 to get by Laviolette.

And in the interest of fairness, and with all due respect to the members of the NHL coaching fraternity (a club of which I am by no means a member), it should be mentioned that even behind the great Al Arbour, 92 wins is nothing to get especially excited about.

So after all this, what is the case for Jack Capuano? Unfortunately for Jack, I don’t see that there is one. I happen to think he’s a reasonably capable coach who was given an assignment he was not ready for, and was unable to adapt in time. Perhaps he would fare better in a different scenario, with some experience now under his belt.

But regardless of what I or anyone else thinks, whether or not he is a capable coach is irrelevant at this point: it is becoming clear he’s lost the confidence of the team, whatever momentum they gained with last year’s great run has been largely forgotten.

It is fairly important for the team to go into this summer’s free agency on a strong note, if not to sign high profile players than at the very least to retain as many of those already with the organization as possible.

Fair or not, right or wrong, whether or not it makes even an iota of difference to the season, it seems as though a change is in order.

–JP (@Joe_SoWhatElse)

Nov 29, 2013; Uniondale, NY, USA; New York Islanders head coach

Jack Capuano

talks to the media before the start of a game against the Detroit Red Wings at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Peter McEntee

A ‘Necessary’ Pink Slip

Last season, #IslesTwitter was all over Coach Jack Capuano. They’d harass the coach brutally in 140 characters or less, even creating the “#FireCappy”. It took off like a forest fire, and by mid-February amidst the Islanders worst struggles of the season, it seriously looked like Capuano’s reign could be in trouble.

Let’s set the record straight, I was against Jack Capuano for some time as a coach. I couldn’t see where this team was going under his rule, and I did want him fired for some time. However, once he got the Islanders to really find their identity of physical, blue-collar play, I was sold on him. He helped them win games with a defensive style of play, something that was definitely new for the Islanders. However, it worked like a charm, as the Islanders went on a remarkable hot streak that propelled them into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, where they came very close to shocking the top seeded Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round.

By the time last season came to a close, I was all for Jack Capuano. There was nothing anyone could say or do to get me to think negatively of him. He’d helped the Islanders find their identity, something they had lacked for six years before that.

However, here we are now in late November of the 2013-14 season, and the Islanders seem to have lost that identity Capuano discovered. The Islanders are trying to be too flashy on the ice, whether it’d be the no-look pass attempts that result in turnovers or that fancy toe-drag that just isn’t getting the job done.

The “#FireCappy” movement has since been resurrected, and it’s reached new heights. People just don’t want Capuano coaching this team anymore. He hasn’t helped the team with finding ways to win games, and his questionable moves, whether it’d be the team’s lineup for a game or a very vague post game press conference, has people clamoring for a change in coaching.

Personally, I now hold Capuano accountable for some of what has gone on, but all of the blame can’t be thrown on him. Friday’s debacle is a prime example. The Islanders just lacked effort, that was their biggest fault, and the fans just scapegoat Capuano for the team’s troubles. You certainly cannot point any fingers his way for how the team lost to Washington last night at the Coliseum or the manner in which they did.

That’s the problem here. Everyone seems to need someone to blame. Never can the bad play fall on the team itself, it’s just a portion or a person on the team that causes loss after loss.

Now, even with Capuano not being totally at fault here, it looks like his time in Long Island may be coming to an end. The team at this point has been reduced to rubble. They consistently lack effort and motivation, and that’s about all the consistency we see from this team. The team noticeably plays without confidence on the ice, and it is absolutely frustrating to watch.

This has been going on for about a month. The Islanders “No Win November” (another #IslesTwitter creation) has taken this team to the depths of the Metropolitan Division, a place in which fans and experts predicted the Islanders to finish in one of the top 3 spots.

Well, the Islanders are currently in 8th, and it doesn’t look like anything is going to change in terms of the quality of play. The Islanders posted a 4-10-1 record in November, and have lost 9 of their last 11 games.

It just doesn’t look like the play of this team will get any better. This is why Capuano’s job is in jeopardy.

The Islanders seemingly don’t respond to Capuano. We don’t see what happens behind closed doors, but unlike other coaches, Capuano always remains timid with the media during post game press conferences. He doesn’t call any struggling players out. He doesn’t seem to motivate his players the way other coaches do. He isn’t that fearless leader that the players would run through walls for. It’s just not Capuano’s style to be that vocal with his team.

That could very well be Capuano’s downfall. His lack of voice has the Islanders lost. The team is visibly frustrated and confused.

The Islanders as a team worked well under Capuano’s system last season. If they’re going to try their own thing, which they’ve been doing this entire month of November, Capuano should be whipping the team into shape. He hasn’t done that in my opinion.

Capuano has a good system, and I can’t stress that enough. Unfortunately, Capuano certainly can be more vocal and visible and his quietness, along with the general malaise that the players have seemed to settle into, might cost him his job.

-PM (@pjmcentee)

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