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The Islanders need Garth Snow. Plain and simple. The Islanders need their long-term general manager to save the team’s fast. But not this Garth Snow.
The current Garth Snow sits idly by as other GMs, who deal with injuries, work to give their team a fighting chance. The current Garth Snow unnecessarily locks up bottom-pairing defensemen long term when reinforcements are needed. The current Garth Snow inexplicably keeps AHL players on the current roster when clearly they cannot compete at this yet level. Not this Garth Snow.
When Luke Skywalker tried to reach Anakin Skywalker on, who was still inside Darth Vader on Endor in “Return of the Jedi”, Vader responded by saying “that name no longer has any meaning to me.” Luke countered with “It is the name of your true self. You’ve only forgotten. I know there is a good GM in you.” Sorry Luke, not this Garth Snow.
The Garth Snow I’m talking about was a novice. He went from backup goaltender one day to Islanders general manager the next as Charles Wang fired Neil Smith just six weeks after hiring him back in the summer of 2006. Wang’s firing of Smith, who was the architect of the 1994 Rangers Stanley Cup, resulted in former Isles great Pat LaFontaine, hired as a senior adviser to resign. Smith was hired by Wang the same day as then head coach Ted Nolan. Was this the mid 90s Islanders?
Smith was upset with Wang’s philosophy that the front office would be run as a committee. Smith protested, Wang showed him the door. When the dust settled, Snow was running the front office. That’s the Garth Snow I’m talking about.
That Garth Snow went all in for his first trade deadline. In a span of ten days, he acquired Marc-Andre Bergeron, who had 21 points in 23 games following the deal, forward Richard Zednik, and shocked the hockey world by acquiring Edmonton Oilers captain Ryan Smyth. Snow sent two of former general manager Mike Milbury’s picks in 2003 first-rounder Robert Nilsson and 2005 first-rounder Ryan O’Marra. Snow also included the 2007 first-round pick, his first as a GM. That team made the playoffs. That’s the Garth Snow I’m taking about.
The rebuild started following the 2007 playoffs, some say that it's still going, as Garth still acquires draft picks for assets. This Garth Snow, always building for the future while ignoring the present.
This Garth Snow is allowing the team to crumbles around him, in quite possibly John Tavares's final season as an Islander.
This Garth Snow also recalls a fourth-line AHL player, while a first-round pick is handcuffed in Bridgeport.
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