New York Islanders Scott Gomez Won’t Return in 2019-20

New York Islanders assistant coach Scott Gomez won’t be back for the 2019-20 NHL season. Hopefully, that translates into an improvement on the power play.

The Athletic’s Arthur Staple confirmed that New York Islanders assistant coach Scott Gomez will not return behind the bench for the 2019-20 season. Leaving on his own accord it sounds like.

Gomez was the Islanders power play coach in both of the seasons with the team. In his second year, he led the Islanders to a woeful 14.5 percent power-play efficiency – third-worst in the NHL- with 33 goals.

After the Islanders hired former

Toronto Maple Leafs assistant coach Jim Hiller

– a power-play specialist- Scott Gomez’s tenure with the Isles was precarious, at best.

Not Good Enough

He was the lone survivor from the great Lou Lamoriello coaching purge of 2018. Gone was head coach Doug Weight and most of the staff that he’d hired the season prior.

But Scott Gomes, who had no coaching experience before getting a job behind the bench with the Islanders stayed.

Over his two seasons with the New York Islanders, Gomez averaged an 18.85 power-play efficiency. Which in and of itself isn’t terrible. But the 23.5 percent efficiency from 2017-18 is doing God’s work, masking the terrible 14.5 percent from 2018-19.

Last season, the Islanders power play went through incredible doughts. In a 12 game sample from November 18th to December 12th, the Islanders had 28 power-play opportunities they scored one power-play goal. One. In an eleven game sample between February 23rd and March 15th, the Islanders had 24 power-play opportunities and scored zero goals. Zero.

Cumulative, that’s 23 games, just about a third of the season, where the Islanders scored one power-play goal on 52 opportunities. Wild.

And then there are games like January 12th, when the Islanders had six, yes six power-play opportunities against the New York Rangers. They didn’t score on a single one and lost the game 2-1.

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Hopefully, with a new mind in charge of the power play, the New York Islanders can become at least average – or somewhere near average in 2019-20. And for the love of God, please, no super-dump zone entries.