Fansided

New York Islanders Probably Won’t Fire Garth Snow

By Frank Molinari |
UNIONDALE, NY - SEPTEMBER 15: Islanders General Manager Garth Snow speaks to the media during a press conference to announce center John Tavares has signed a six-year contract extension with the New York Islanders on September 15, 2011 at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images for New York Islanders)
UNIONDALE, NY - SEPTEMBER 15: Islanders General Manager Garth Snow speaks to the media during a press conference to announce center John Tavares has signed a six-year contract extension with the New York Islanders on September 15, 2011 at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images for New York Islanders)

Sorry Islanders fans, it just doesn’t seem likely. The New York Islanders have released big news recently as they announced the hiring of Lou Lamoriello for their President of Hockey Operations. Many believe and want, the firing of Garth Snow from General Manager to follow. However, that doesn’t seem to be.

Lamoriello’s Son

For one thing, Lou Lamoriello’s son, Chris, has been working alongside Snow since he was hired by the Islanders organization in 2016. Lou doesn’t want to disrupt the familiarity his son has developed with Snow after the past 2 years. It would become quite awkward for Lou to fire Snow after his son has been working with him for a while.

The Islanders’ Owners Don’t Want To

It is believed that Charles Wang, the old Islanders majority owner, gave Snow a lucrative, long-term contract as confirmed by TSN’s Bob McKenzie. In order for the new owners John Ledecky and Scott Malkin to fire Snow, they’d have to buyout Snow’s contract. And the Islanders know how much of a mess that can be as we’ve seen with Rick DiPietro. It doesn’t seem like Lou Lamoriello will go against Ledecky and Malkin and create another fiasco by forcing a buyout.

It Would Have Happened Already

Let’s be honest, if the Islanders wanted Snow gone, they would have fired him already. It wouldn’t make sense for the owners to be unhappy with Snow for this long and to wait on firing him many weeks after the Islanders season was over. If the owners were unhappy with Snow they would have just fired him and hire Lamoriello in his place.

But they didn’t, they kept Snow and hired Lamoriello in a different position. The owners have clearly shown they wanted both of them. Or maybe they just didn’t want to do a buyout.

Snow Is Going To Stay

There is a reason why Snow said he expected to keep his job, it’s because he will. There won’t be a new GM for the Islanders to start the 2018-19 season, that is almost confirmed. What questions that remain is the future of John Tavares, the goaltending issue, among other things.

Next: Does Lou Lamoriello Revive Josh Ho-Sang?

These are the things John Ledecky and Scott Malkin trust Garth Snow with, well, maybe they just trust Lou with those, hopefully.

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