We interrupt for the following announcement:
Also, per Newsday's Andrew Gross, there has been some movement on the JT re-signing front, though it remains fluid.
NOW BACK TO OUR REGULAR BLOG...
When Dorothy first lands in Oz, she and her house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East. NY Islander hockey fans should consider this like how Lou came to them and landed right on Wicked Garth Snow and Clueless Doug Weight.
Wicked. Clueless. Whatever adjective you want to apply seems worthwhile. You can be apologetic to some of Snow’s tenure. (I had been)
Why not? They were a mess. Charles in charge. Neil Smith canned. Org losing tons of cash and with severe venue problems. Why not a backup goalie?
At least it wasn’t some sumo wrestler in goal.
Here’s the thing. You can have a circus clown as your GM when you are shitty. Eventually, they will figure it out enough to be passable.
Even a bit cocky. But then you change the situation, they fall flat on their face.
Garth Snow fell flat on his face. Flat. Right on his bearded gobber. He didn’t know what to do when the Isles team were needing to move up a step. Worse.
John Tavares could walk away.
JUST WALK AWAY. Can we blame him?
No. Blame Charlie. The joke bit us all right on our ass. Ok, maybe Garth could get a team to just enough to a bubble playoff spot.
That MIGHT be something. But then what? What did you do for us lately?
Let’s say you are the guy who puts gas in the car for a racing team. During the race... about 45 laps in, the driver gets out of the car.
On fire. Charlie, the race car owner, is looking for another driver. Screw it, he says, pointing to you.
Give it a go!
So you get in the car and drive around over and over enough to get used to the race eventually. You are good enough finally just to be passable.
Yay! You get a cookie.
So you turn the corner on the last few laps...
Time to go into overdrive, right? Right?
Wrong. Time to plod along having your deepest issues smash you right in your face!
Don’t know how to make a trade happen in a slow market?
SMASH! Afraid to hire a coach with actual experience and skills?
SMASH! Afraid to add new blood and views to the group?
SMASH! Unwilling to change your speed and priority?
SMASH! Unwilling to make a trade to show JT you are serious about getting to the next level with him?
SMASH!
The Cheaper by the Dozen theme doesn’t work anymore.
Then the house lands, Lou walks out of it and yawns.
“Hey, we aren’t in Toronto anymore, Toto!”
That’s what just happened and all the rest are now on the yellow brick road.
The Wicked Witch of the East is dead. His goalie pads can be seen right under Lou’s porch.
Snow used to try to emulate Lou. This style wasn’t by accident. It’s a good style to hide deficiency and missteps. A lot easier to bumble around for 12 years in the dark. Worse. He was prideful and overconfident that his snail pace was good enough.
No more. Now Lou is here and it his job is to finish that damn race.
Lou is no spring chicken, though he does look a lot like a Frank Perdue. Maybe. Maybe if Frank Perdue ate an entire package of Sour Patch Kids.
Does Lou have enough time to save the day? Or will Tavares be watching video presentations from a bunch of different teams all willing to put out all the stops to get him?
We will see what is most important to JT soon. Then whatever the case, Lou needs to go to work.
NEEDS:
1. Coach. How about one with experience for god's sake! Enough with the starter pack coaching. Scott Gordon sucked. Capuano was ok. Well for a little while. Then the act got stale real fast. Doug Weight made us miss Cappy. Great players don’t always mean good coaches. The Islanders need a coach with experience and who demands something far higher from the room. This is why the Country Club term is used. The kids on this team don’t know how to invest and rise. They don’t know how to be a competitor.
2. A number one goalie and pray Greiss can rebound. Linus Soderstrom seems likely to join the team and be an option should Greiss still stink.
3. A top pairing defenseman. This isn’t easy to find or afford but if the Isles are truly to win now, they need this badly. You can shift in Pulock and maybe Toews or Aho can push a little. DeHaan is likely to test the market. Pelech seems a solid enough guy to throw in the middle pair. Time to say goodbye to Thomas Hickey.
4. Defensive play on the bottom 6. That 4th line of the Islanders seems to have taken a year or two off. This is not the 4th line that people wrote about. Cizikas and Clutterbuck must play at a higher level. Ladd might never be worth his contract, which makes a lot of us all wish that Frans was still on the team. But the guy can still do some defense. Ok. That is three of 6. What happens with the rest? Let us know, Lou!
5. Special teams. Special shouldn’t mean “special”. If the Islanders want to compete with the big boys then they need to play both in the top 10. This means you need assistant coaches that can teach this team and provide a system that works.
We can follow the yellow brick road, but this team really needs a lot more than a dumb scarecrow, a heartless tin man, and a cowardly lion. We need Lou and some wizard moves. It is time for Dumbledore.
There is no time for anything else. 
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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