New York Islanders: Top 5 Moves by New Ownership

Bye-bye Nepotism

By now we all know that former majority owner Charles Wang gave former GM Garth Snow a ridiculously long-term contract extension before Wang became a minority owner. Snow had already served as the Islanders GM for ten years at the time of the extension and would continue to serve that role for another ten years thanks to Wang.

Wang wanted to give his friend one last gift before he was no longer at the helm. So Wang made sure Garth wasn’t going anywhere with that insane extension.

Even if Garth Snow had been even a remotely good GM that extension would have been ridiculous. But because Snow was a bad GM it looks even worse.

Say what you will about Snow’s drafting record, he still whiffed on Michael Dal Colle, Griffin Reinhart, and Ryan Strome. All were top five picks in the draft. Neither has yet to make a top-five impact at the NHL level. One is no longer in the NHL, the other has barely got a sniff of the NHL, and the last is at best a complimentary piece and nowhere what was expected.

You can also play revisionist history with his trade history, but if it wasn’t for Peter Chiarelli being the GM of the Edmonton Oilers, Garth Snow’s best trade is…

But mercifully, after the Islanders missed the playoffs in back-to-back years after Ledecky and Malkin took over as majority owners, Snow was removed from his role as President of Hockey Operations. In comes Hall of Fame GM Lou Lamoriello as the new President of Hockey Operations.

Within two weeks Snow is stripped of his GM title too. Along with that, Snow’s right-hand man Assistant GM and Head Coach Doug Weight is fired.

Out was the old boys club that had been plaguing the Islanders for years and in came Lou Lamoriello. It was welcomed breath of fresh air brought in thanks to John Ledecky and Scott Malkin.