Is Garth Snow secretly a genius?

[islefan31]

I'll start of by saying probably not. Could he have held off on grabbing a starting goalie last summer because, A) he new the team wasn't ready to go far in the playoffs. B) he couldn't land Miller and went for the next best thing in Vanek (hoping he could be swayed) and C) because of the talent that could be available this summer? In a perfect world Vanek decides to stay and Snow lands his goalie this year, we all know how that turned out. Why give up assets for a Schnieder or Bernier when there will be a decent crop of FA's including Ryan Miller??? Hum, I'm probably giving him too much credit. Who were the big goalie FA's from last season and who from this year could fit the mold?

[JagrBomb]

you never give up a potential lottery pick for a pending UFA. unless you are 150% sure he will re-sign, that is an idiotic move. snow is an idiot and it wouldn't surprise me if the vanek move costs him his job. imo isles will draft 5th this year, and if they miss the playoffs next year snow is fired.

[27Blue]

Considering that he has been on the job for 8 years now and he just "earned" the team another lottery pick...
I don't see any genius in Snow's track record.
The guy knows how to ink a player to sweet contract, he does not know how to build a team.

[islefan31]

you never give up a potential lottery pick for a pending UFA. unless you are 150% sure he will re-sign, that is an idiotic move. snow is an idiot and it wouldn't surprise me if the vanek move costs him his job. imo isles will draft 5th this year, and if they miss the playoffs next year snow is fired.

The only way Snow goes is if Wang sells and that sucks. He obviously didn't do his job this year and neither did his head coach and somehow they both still have jobs. And yes I agree, there's no way that Vanek trade should have happened without a commitment, but that's the cost of doing business on Long Island. No big name FA wants to come here right now and, to his credit, Snow has had a decent track record of changing players minds into staying once they're here. Nabby and Vysnovski to name a few...Moulson was heart broken to be traded.

[lucifer316]

i don't think he is a genius but i give him credit for working under the conditions that he has

he gambled with Vanek and it didn't work but you know what he convinced two guys who refused to report to the team to re-sign

i don't think fans realize how difficult it actually is to put together a team when virtually nobody wants to play for it

[JagrBomb]

i don't think he is a genius but i give him credit for working under the conditions that he has

he gambled with Vanek and it didn't work but you know what he convinced two guys who refused to report to the team to re-sign

i don't think fans realize how difficult it actually is to put together a team when virtually nobody wants to play for it

that is exactly why you don't trade your high 1st round pick. good chance you get a very good player with it, that is basically forced to play for your team, at least for his ELC. if snow realizes that, which i'm sure he does, then he shouldn't have traded the pick and moulson for a guy who likely wasn't going to re-sign. they could have had moulson on JT's wing for years, from what i heard those two were very close.

you trying to tell me getting nabakov and visnovsky to play with the isles is better than losing 5th overall/potentially connor mcdavid?

[islefan31]

i don't think he is a genius but i give him credit for working under the conditions that he has

he gambled with Vanek and it didn't work but you know what he convinced two guys who refused to report to the team to re-sign

i don't think fans realize how difficult it actually is to put together a team when virtually nobody wants to play for it

In addition, any GM worth his weight nows he has Snow over a barrel when it comes to trade negotiations as well. The only thing he has in his favor is cap room and can take on questionable contracts and absorb some of the $$$$.

[lucifer316]

that is exactly why you don't trade your high 1st round pick. good chance you get a very good player with it, that is basically forced to play for your team, at least for his ELC. if snow realizes that, which i'm sure he does, then he shouldn't have traded the pick and moulson for a guy who likely wasn't going to re-sign. they could have had moulson on JT's wing for years, from what i heard those two were very close.

you trying to tell me getting nabakov and visnovsky to play with the isles is better than losing 5th overall/potentially connor mcdavid?

the islanders and the oilers have both been getting pick after pick after pick at the top end of the draft for years and neither team is getting any better

in theory yeah you want to be able to draft those players in practice they tend to make for a shitty team when you can't balance anything out around them

[lucifer316]

oh and if Tavares doesn't get hurt there is no guarantee that pick is as high as it is

what is snow supposed to make no moves assuming his players will get hurt and the season will be a bust on them

they were fighting for a wild card spot when Tavares went down

[27Blue]

they were fighting for a wild card spot when Tavares went down

no they weren't...

[JagrBomb]

oh and if Tavares doesn't get hurt there is no guarantee that pick is as high as it is

what is snow supposed to make no moves assuming his players will get hurt and the season will be a bust on them

they were fighting for a wild card spot when Tavares went down

invalid arguement...at olympic break:

NY Islanders (last rank 26): Just when things were starting to look good for the Islanders, they have suddenly lost 7 of their last 8 games and are all but eliminated from the playoffs. They are sending 3 players to Sochi (Tavares, Grabner, Vanek). They sit 12 points back of the last playoff spot, and have no chance of catching it.

[lucifer316]

no they weren't...

i thought they were closer than they were my bad

i still think if he continued to stand pat and do nothing but accumulate another pick people would instead be in here shitting on him for not trying to acquire any players to make the team any better

i don't see anyone yelling bravo for edmonton getting another top 5 pick this season

[Dobber]

I'll start of by saying probably not.

I was excited about this thread until I saw you open with this. Ah well.

Nobody wants to play for this team. So with the understanding that you can't sign anyone, have a crazy owner, and have a young team with lots of solid prospects - I like what he's done. And he's kept players long-term on the cheap.

They do need a goalie though, but finally this summer it's a buyers market for goalies so let's reserve judgment until we see what happens. The Isles truly are a top goalie away from competing. Okposo has come around, JT will be healthy, Lee and Strome are on the cusp...

The Vanek move was stupid, but he took the chance that he could re-sign him. And I have no doubt that he did that move with the full blessing of the owner so his job is not in danger.

Let's readdress in November

[JagrBomb]

i thought they were closer than they were my bad

i still think if he continued to stand pat and do nothing but accumulate another pick people would instead be in here shitting on him for not trying to acquire any players to make the team any better

i don't see anyone yelling bravo for edmonton getting another top 5 pick this season

better to have a top 5 pick with no one yelling "bravo" than losing your top 5 pick and everyone yelling "idiot".

[lucifer316]

better to have a top 5 pick with no one yelling "bravo" than losing your top 5 pick and everyone yelling "idiot".

even if he still had the pick everyone would be yelling idiot as i said it is going on with the oilers