Capuano Stays Around For Another Year

Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

Garth Snow has told Newsday that head coach Jack Capuano will be back next season. Capuano lead the Islanders to a disappointing 34-37-11 record this season, which placed the Islanders 14^th in the Eastern Conference and 26^th in the entire league. Capuano has been the Head Coach of the Islanders for four years and has a record of 118-120-39 resulting in one playoff berth in the 2012-2013 season. Capuano became the Islanders assistant coach in the 2005-2006 season. After that season, Capuano became the assistant head coach for the Islanders minor league affiliate the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.  He was named the head coach of the Sound Tigers following his first year of being an assistant there. On November 15, 2010, Capuano was named the interim coach of the Islanders after former head coach Scott Gordon was fired in the middle of a 10-game losing streak. In the 2011-12 the Islanders removed the interim tag and made Capuano the full-time head coach.

If the Islanders did not go on a solid stretch at the end of this season it seemed that Capuano would be let go. He will most likely be on a short leash next season considering the struggles the team had this year. There is no reason the Islanders shouldn’t contend next year with the talent they have. The Islanders have proven stars such as John Tavares and Kyle Okposo, along with young talent who just completed their first season such as Calvin de Hann, Brock Nelson, Anders Lee, Griffin Reinhart and Ryan Strome. If the Islanders have yet another disappointing year, or start off slow out of the gate, expect Capuano to get canned before the Islanders move to Brooklyn.