John Tavares does not deserve the contempt of Islanders fans

NHL

By means of Ethan Sears

August 19, 2023 | 4:05 in the afternoon

Garth Snow is free to speak his mind.

It had been five years, after all, since he was let go as Islanders general manager.

“I’m not under anybody’s control,” Snow said, and continued to speak his mind about how the Islanders have been in recent years.

On John Tavares leaving the Islanders a month after Snow was fired in June 2018: “He didn’t do anything wrong.”

On the Islanders playing home games at Barclays Center, beginning in 2015: “If Charles [Wang] didn’t go to the Barclays Center, the Islanders wouldn’t have stayed on Long Island. … But logistically it was a hot mess.”

On co-owner Scott Malkin: “There are things I recommend getting shot. And then I laugh with Lou [Lamoriello] hired and well, they will do the things I recommend.

Snow’s 12-year tenure as Islanders GM covers a remarkable period in the team’s history.

The Islanders didn’t see much success on-ice until the last few years, they faced a disastrous situation in the arena and they changed owners.

But Snow built the core that led them to conference finals berths in 2019-20 and 2020-21 and still makes up the majority of their current team.

That Tavares is not yet a part of this core, however, doesn’t sit well with fans five years after he left the Maple Leafs, with boos greeting him every time he returns to Long Island.

That’s not just because he left, but because he was seen leading the Islanders by keeping the possibility of re-signing open when they could trade him for assets at the 2018 trade deadline.

Snow said the decision to keep Tavares on Long Island at the time came down to ownership.

“That decision by Scott Malkin is that we are not going to trade him under any circumstances,” Snow said. “He’s absolutely committed to re-signing him. I think the quote I said was, ‘Are you ready to drive the car off the cliff when you go through time and go to free agency?’ He’s comfortable with that. That’s the point.

Although Lamoriello was the GM at the time Tavares left, Snow said there was little traction on a contract extension in 2017. The Islanders shelled out about $10 million for Tavares, he said, but the talks did not go far, and Malkin took over the negotiations. .

“I feel so bad [Tavares] was dismissed for something that was not his fault,” Snow said. “The Islanders could have traded him if they wanted to, but that decision was made. So it’s not his fault that the islanders didn’t sell him.”

Malkin and Jon Ledecky, who bought a controlling interest in the team from Wang in 2016, secured a deal for what became UBS Arena in the season before Tavares’ departure.

But the embarrassment of playing home games at Barclays Center, an arena not built for hockey, then splitting home games between Brooklyn and Nassau Coliseum in 2018-19 and 2019-20, has hung over fans. -island during the interim.

“I think our winning percentage is pretty good at Barclays,” Snow said jokingly. “Maybe the opposing team has the same issues trying to get into the rink that we did.”

The threat of relocation was real, and playing at Barclays helped the Islanders avoid it. But it’s a high price to pay, as the commute from the Northwell Health Ice Center, their practice facility, is devastating, some fans can’t see the entire ice from their seats and the playing field is in poor condition. .

“Game days never appeal to anyone,” Snow said. “It’s difficult with the coaches, it’s difficult with the trainers, with the equipment, it’s not an easy situation. Obviously there are issues on the ice.”

Malkin, Snow said, is more hands-on than Wang, although with Lamoriello as GM, he has no one else.

Snow did not enjoy the same level of freedom, which may have contributed to the failure to sign Tavares.

“There has to be trust,” he said. “Obviously Charles has confidence in me. New guys come in, you have to build confidence. Especially when you commit $10 [million] or $12 million, whatever it is, to a player. You should be comfortable with your GM. “

Tavares was the highest-profile draft pick Snow made on the job — one of four top-overall selections the Islanders made — but perhaps not the most impactful.

In retrospect, Snow’s draft record is the best part of his record as a GM, with a series of impact players after the first two rounds, including Anders Lee (2009, 152nd overall ), Casey Cizikas (2009, 92nd overall), Adam Pelech (2012, 65th overall), Ilya Sorokin (2014, 95th overall) and Devon Toews (2014, 1st -108 overall).

Despite some misses with high picks – Michael Dal Colle, Josh Ho-Sang and Griffin Reinhart come to mind – Snow also drafted Brock Nelson, Ryan Pulock, Mathew Barzal and Anthony Beauvillier in the first round over the years.

Sending Reinhart to the Oilers for a 2015 first and second, then selecting Barzal with the first rounder and trading the second in a deal to move up and land Beauvillier, stands as arguably the best move of the era. Snow.

“We didn’t have a first- or second-round pick that year,” Snow said. “And we’re going through the process, which is a credit to our scouting staff to stay ready because you never know what’s going to happen. … I just remember that Barzal is a player that we know, and thankfully, he’s there .”

Lee, at the time an average prospect who could go on to play football, was someone the Islanders wanted to draft last year, Snow said.

“We called him off the floor and we can’t be sure he’s going to commit to playing hockey,” Snow said, “because football is still an option for him.”

Snow said, however, he was glad Lee was surprised to fall all the way to the sixth round in 2009.

“I don’t think there was a time when we met and talked about him, there was anything negative about him,” he said. “Our question is: Is he going to play football or is he going to play hockey?”

Thanks to his five-year payout, Snow has been out of the league since being released, spending his time coaching the PAL Junior Islanders.

He said he plans to continue coaching them this year, but has talked to some teams about front office roles.

At least at the GM level, another shot won’t come this year, with every NHL job accounted for, but the door is open to the future.

“For me, it’s a fun experience to do it at the highest level again, at some point,” Snow said.