New York Islanders Garth Snow Can’t Get a Big Deal Done

The New York Islanders organization entered into this past Saturday hoping to land an impact forward while reducing their expansion crunch. The Islanders Garth Snow couldn’t get a big deal done.

The NHL trade freeze came into effect for the New York Islanders this past Saturday afternoon. Once again Garth Snow could not get a major trade over the finish line.

The Islanders are on record that they need to land a proven top forward and yet they now enter into expansion in a peculiar situation.

Expansion Situation

There are two scenario’s that are going to happen for the Isles between now and the expansion draft later this week. Either the Isles will submit their best protection list and lose a really good player or make a deal with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Striking a deal with George McPhee (Vegas GM) is going to cost in terms of a high draft pick this year and possibly a very good prospect.

To strike a deal with the Golden Knights that does not severely hurt the Isles in the present day, could cost the organization their first-round pick this year (15th overall). There is already speculation of this being the case.

New York Islanders

Perfect Trade is Rare

The last two to three years Garth has been unable to get a major trade done. Sometimes a general manager has to give a little bit more than he likes to get the deal he needs to get done completed.

Not every trade is going to fall into a general manager’s lap. In the first week of October 2014, everything fell Garth’s way when he acquired both Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy.

That kind of scenarios where everything works out perfectly for a hockey team in regards to completing a trade is few and far between.

Critical Week for Snow

This is a critical week for Garth. Hopefully, he has a deal in place with Vegas that is reasonable in terms of future assets he is giving up, while not losing a key player in expansion for nothing.

When the first-round of the NHL Draft concludes this Friday night. Garth has to have added a Matt Duchene – Jordan Eberle type of forward to this team.

Garth has plenty of assets to trade from in terms of his roster, prospect pipeline, and draft picks to land an impact forward.

The one player, Garth cannot trade is Mathew Barzal. Barzal has a chance to be a special player. Also, if there is even the slightest chance that John Tavares leaves the Islanders, then they cannot trade Barzal.

Next: Isles Worst Draft Picks in Show Era

Yours truly is a glass-half-full type of person. It’s up to Garth Snow to keep it that way by the end of this week. Garth is on the clock.