The Doug Weight era begins tonight as the Islanders open up a six-game homestand against the Dallas Stars. Weight was named interim head coach when general manager Garth Snow fired Jack Capuano.
Weight said that he will tweak Cappy's system but needs improvements from the players.
“We need to be a team a little bit more. We’ll talk about our roles and our identity. I get it, I hear it all the time on the TV that we don’t have an identity. Well, we’ll have an identity. We’re going to identify, we’re going to work on a lot of O-zone. I want to play less in our zone. That is my message. And we will.”
The title "interim" will stick with Weight as the search for a full-time coach has begun. The Florida Panthers granted permission to the Islanders to talk with former head coach Gerald Gallant, who was fired earlier in the season. If the Islanders truly wanted Gallant as their coach he would have been hired already.
"We've got 40 games left and I'm not worried about auditioning for anything."
The Isles sit dead last in the Eastern conference with 42 points. They are eight points back of both the Philadelphia Flyers and Ottawa Senators. They have games in hand on every team in the East except the Sens and Toronto Maple Leafs. New York needs to win at least five of the six games during this homestand.
Thomas Greiss will make his eight-straight start. Since taking over as the starting goalie, Greiss is 3-2-2, with a 2.27 GAA and a .930 save percentage. He was a hard-luck loser in Colorado and Arizona.
Johnny Boychuk is day-to-day with an upper body injury. Scott Mayfield will replace him. The same 12 forwards from Monday will play. Andrew Ladd and Cal Clutterbuck both skated in practiced today and are both day-to-day.
In other news, SNY.tv is reporting that the Islanders have an agreement with the Worcester Railers, who will begin play in the ECHL next season. The Islanders had a two-year agreement with the Missouri Mavericks, whose deal ends after this season. This obviously makes sense as the ECHL and AHL transfers players frequently.
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