New York Islanders Travis St-Denis Signature Raises Questions

The New York Islanders announced Travis St-Denis signed a new deal. That’s great, he was good for the Sound Tigers. But I guess the evaluations are over?

Travis St-Denis deserved a contract extension from the New York Islanders. I want to make sure that’s out there before it gets lost in the greater significance of the news.

With 44 points in 74 games for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the 25-year-old undrafted forward was a good player for the Islanders AHL outfit. And with the two-year deal, will continue to be a depth option for the Islanders going forward.

That’s great. The financials of the deal haven’t been released or discovered yet, but I assume they’re good too. But I guess if contracts are being given out then the evaluations are over? Maybe?

Are the Evaluations Over?

We were told by ownership that evaluations would be conducted within the organization. We hoped that would mean someone would be held accountable for last season’s stunning failure. We expected something.

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For weeks we got nothing. Maybe a glimmer of hope coming from a few tweets that Lou Lamoriello might be linked to the Islanders General Manager job. But that’s it.

And now as we can see, contracts are being signed. We have to assume that Garth Snow is the one negotiations and signing this deal on behalf of the team. Who else could it be? Are the owners so involved that they are taking time out of their day to sign two-way contracts for undrafted players like Travis St-Denis? No, of course not.

So what was the result of the evaluation process? We can assume that Garth is staying put. Not that we ever thought otherwise (although we all flirted with the thought of him being out of the picture).

With contracts being signed and no word from ownership, or the franchise in general as to what came about the evaluations we have to ask, did they happen? Did they actually evaluate the situation?

Cause if they haven’t why are deals being done? Did Garth Snow just go rogue and say: “I’m the General Manager. I’m the President. I’m an Alternate Governor. And until I’m removed from my duties I’m just going about my business”?

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Next: Pros and Cons of Trading Up At 2018 Draft

There are so many questions as to what’s going on with this franchise, but so little in the way of answers. I’m glad for St-Denis, again, he deserved it. But what is going on behind the scenes seems completely disjointed.