New York Islanders Roundtable: Back to the Future

Eric Vogel

Short answer – They don’t.

Long answer – Jack Capuano is going to continue to use the fast, skilled, puck controlling players that Garth Snow has drafted/signed/traded for to dump/chase/board battle their way to the middle of the league (because of course, we’ll finish out of the playoffs, but not in the lottery).  Functionally the equivalent of taking a thousand dollar nail gun and trying to bang a nail into a wall with the handle.

If you’re Snow and you don’t want to go down with the ship you have as much of a fire sale as you can in an attempt to tank for a lottery pick. You fire Capuano at the end of the season in the hopes of finding a more progressive coach while assuring ownership that the talent you’ve drafted will be better suited to a new system and next season will be a different story.

Finally, you fill up the YeSUV with as much money as you can, drive it to John Tavares’ doorstep, and beg him not to leave.

If you’re Capuano and you don’t want to go down with the ship you… I don’t know, open a book maybe?  Somehow finally realize that carrying the puck over the blueline, especially when you have players who can do that effectively, is a much more reliable way of generating scoring chances than deliberately handing over control of the puck?  Maybe he should walk around with taxi fare in his pocket at all times just in case.