Islanders Tavares and Weight Could Save Garth Snow

The New York Islanders off-season has officially begun. There are many questions including will Garth Snow stay on as the General Manager. It’s possible that Tavares and Weight save Snow’s job.

Garth Snow has been the New York Islanders GM since the summer of 2006. There have been a lot of positives in his tenure but under his stewardship, the Islanders have been unable to make that last step and become a major contender.

Many Islanders fans, hockey observers, and NHL insiders feel it’s time for a new voice in the Islanders GM chair.

JT to the Rescue?

Obviously, it’s beyond critical the Islanders sign John Tavares to an extension this off-season. Tavares has one-year left on his contract and then becomes an unrestricted free agent.

This is items one, two, and three of the off-season plan priorities for the ownership tandem of Scott Malkin and Jonathan Ledecky. Sign Tavares.

New York Islanders

Tavares has a strong relationship with Garth. It goes back to the spring of 2009, the year he was drafted.

By all accounts, Tavares is a very loyal person. If Garth was let go would that have a bad effect on the Tavares extension talks? Could that make the waters at resigning him much more difficult?

It’s probably not a deal breaker for the captain and ultimately one would think he realizes that’s the nature of hockey at times. But if your Malkin and Ledecky do you want to take that chance?

Again the Islanders must resign Tavares.

Weight the Right Coach?

Another consideration is the man behind the bench. While now permanent Head Coach Doug Weight didn’t have enough runway to get the Isles in the playoffs, the blue and orange played well under Weight.

In addition, the youngsters developed under Weight, especially Anthony Beauvillier and Josh Ho-Sang. With a lot of young prospects ready to come to the Isles over the next year or two, it’s an additional reason why Weight was made the permanent head coach.

However, if ownership changes the GM then they have to let the new guy pick his head coach. Odds are that person will want to bring in his own guy. Telling a new GM this is your coach, rarely works.

Ownership clearly feels strongly about Weight which could help tip the scales in Snow’s favor in terms of staying on as the general manager.

Next: Looking Ahead to Next Year

Because of the situations with Tavares and Weight, it’s quite possible they could save Snow’s job. Under this scenario, ownership could still hire a president and have them work with and evaluate Snow, his first-year on the job.