New York Islanders Garth Waste’s Another Opportunity

Another trade deadline came and went for the New York Islanders and yet again General manager Garth Snow did not do anything of substance. It was another opportunity for the long-tenured GM to add a significant player to the Islanders roster. Once again, the trade deadline turns out to be a wasted one for the Isles.

Garth Snow was smart to stay out of the rental market. The New York Islanders have plenty of depth on the blue line and there was not a great fit in terms of the forwards that were available. If Patrick Sharp was healthy that could have been a good fit for the Isles.

Trading valuable second or third round picks to rent the like’s of Jarome Iginla, Thomas Vanek, or Radim Vrbata was not a wise way for the Islanders to go. So kudos to Garth for not making a trade for public relations shake.

New York Islanders

Duchene or Johnson

There were two players available that would have been great fits for the Islanders. They were Matt Duchene of the Colorado Avalanche and Tyler Johnson of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Granted both players were hard guys to acquire for a variety of reasons. But hello that is Garth Snow’s job. Very rarely do trades fall in one’s lap like they did for the Isles with Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy.

It has been well documented the last couple of months that the Avalanche were open for business on almost everyone including their top youngsters, Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog. So it seemed that Colorado was open for business although saying they were a difficult potential trade partner is an understatement.

Another possibility was with the Lightning’s Tyler Johnson. Tampa desperately needs blue line help and cap relief. However, with Steve Yzerman being able to move Valtteri Filppula right at the deadline, that was a big step in relieving Tampa’s cap problems.

The Islanders have the blue line depth and talented prospects to deal with land either Duchene or Johnson. Not to mention these pieces are all at cap friendly contracts.

Come Up Empty Again

The bottom line is Garth Snow has once again come up empty in terms of landing a significant player. Once again he had the assets to make such a deal and would be dealing from strength.

Yes, Colorado has been a difficult trade partner for many reasons, but Garth has come up empty too many times. Is Islanders country suppose to believe this June will be any different in terms of landing an impact player this June?

Next: Snow Should Have Gone All in on Duchene

Garth has done a lot of good things for this organization. His biggest failure in recent years has been the inability to add another significant player to go with John Tavares. Will this off-season be any different? Will Garth be the one calling the shots this off-season?