Islanders for Sale?
- Thread starter seahawk
- Start date
hockeyfan1
New member
Selling the Islanders won't be easy, but, at some point Wang will need to be successful in enticing a potential buyer to take a chance on a once-proud franchise. Nothing to be proud of under Wang's tenure, so much for someone who had never seen a hockey game prior to having bought the franchise.
The three horsemen of the modern Islander apocalyptical decline -- Milbury, Wang, and Snow.
Here's more:
http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/islanders-will-be-a-very-tough-sell-for-wang/
The three horsemen of the modern Islander apocalyptical decline -- Milbury, Wang, and Snow.
Here's more:
http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/islanders-will-be-a-very-tough-sell-for-wang/
Kin
New member
sickbeast said:
I don't understand that line of thought whatsoever. Garth Snow has had one of the strangest tenures a GM's ever had and there's not much success to point to but to hold him up as a terrible GM, I think, reveals a really shallow concept of what the job is. If you consider the team that he inherited and the realities of the situation it's such a complete funhouse mirror that any sort of judgment seems unfair.
He took over a team in turmoil, one that had been run into the ground by someone who should be considered the worst GM in history and had nothing resembling organizational stability after Neil Smith was hired and fired within 41 days. In the 8 drafts prior to his arrival, the Islanders had 11 first round draft picks. Despite that, the best player drafted by the team in those years is probably Tim Connolly. They were a trainwreck.
So taking over that mess, be fair about what Snow really had in front of him. Better yet, here's a hypothetical. Let's say you were taking over a team about which the following truths had to be considered:
- The team had an absolutely terrible group of prospects
- The team itself was awful
- The team was not a draw for free agents due to a variety of factors that existed prior your hiring
- The team's popularity was near an all-time low
- Despite the above, because the owner wanted a new arena built, the team's popularity mattered. Unlike somewhere like Edmonton, futility meant thousands and thousands of empty seats.
- You didn't have the budget to spend to the cap.
How would you build a team in those circumstances? Moreover, considering those circumstances, let's look at the team that Snow has actually built. They're young, have one of the game's best young players signed to an incredibly reasonable long term contract, have a very well regarded group of prospects and a ton of cap space.
I can't defend everything Snow's done but calling him out as worse than Ferguson? That's just crazy.
Andy007
Active member
Yea Snow was in a pretty awful situation. His strategy seemed to be to trade picks for a plethora of more picks and try to accumulate as many draft choices as possible. I think he did a pretty admirable job, save for the Vanek fiasco this year which just kind of blew up in his face.
Kin
New member
Andy007 said:
It's a little early to say that, I think. Obviously the Islanders will have a pretty tough choice ahead if, say, they end up with a top 5 pick this year and are faced with the choice of having to send that to Buffalo or risk giving up their pick in McDavid's draft year but there is the possibility that they don't send the pick this year, have a better year next year and the Vanek experiment ultimaate only ends up being a mid-round 1st round and high 2nd round pick for a prospect and a low 2nd round pick.
That's not good, obviously, but as I've said before because of the fact that the Islanders can't sign free agents, that they are under pressure to get better and they already have a good group of prospects that they had to roll the dice with that kind of move at some point and they couldn't have foreseen Tavares getting hurt.
J
Jalili
Guest
I don't think you can say Snow has been a success, but he has clearly done some things well.
The organization is teeming with young talent. They've drafted well since he took over.
The organization is teeming with young talent. They've drafted well since he took over.
bakeapples
New member
Please, please, please Gary - let Jeffrey Loria buy the Islanders (and hopefully a firesale to follow to allow Taveres to become a Leaf!)
