New York Islanders Daily: Giving Tavares A Fair Shot

Dec 31, 2016; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; New York Islanders center John Tavares (91) controls the puck during the first period against the Winnipeg Jets at MTS Centre. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 31, 2016; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; New York Islanders center John Tavares (91) controls the puck during the first period against the Winnipeg Jets at MTS Centre. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Islanders owe it to their captain to provide the proper supporting cast in order for them to thrive.

Yesterday we talked about how John Tavares is committed to the New York Islanders. It’s only fitting that today we talk about Puck Daddy’s plan to fix this team.

His first step is young talent. The Islanders do have some of that, as he mentions Ryan Strome, Mathew Barzal and Kieffer Bellows. But it’s not like any of them are can’t miss in his eyes. He’d like to see improvement in that area. If the Islanders keep playing the way they are they can play their way to a young player with an early draft selection.

The next is goaltending. He doesn’t really cite the Islanders issues at goalie though. He kind of goes into this monster analogy that doesn’t really fit. With Jaroslav Halak in the AHL the Islanders have at least slapped a band aid on their goalie situation.

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His third is a strong, competent supporting cast. This one’s a familiar one, fans have wanted this for years. He doesn’t reference names that the Islanders should’ve went after instead, but just raises the question of if you can salvage the Andrew Ladd contract.

His final point is that Garth Snow has failed. He hit on all the cliches, but he’s most correct with the Snow one. He hasn’t proved that he’s capable of building a winner. Here we are 11 years into this thing and the Islanders have one playoff series win to their name.

To me, it has to start with the General Manager and the Coach. I don’t see this combination figuring out how to build a winning program and that’s not fair to Tavares who has shown his loyalty, or to the fans for that matter.

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