The Jack Capuano watch was in full effect Tuesday, six years to the date when he became the Islanders head coach. Tuesday came and went without a coaching change. Islanders fans should not hold their breaths.
The timing for the change could not have been more perfect. The team had three days off between games. The Islanders are dead last in the Eastern Conference with 13 points. For the first time in franchise history they are winless in their first five road games. Capuano is partly to blame for the Islanders rough start. General manager Garth Snow remains confident in his head coach.
"Jack is an excellent coach," Snow said. "We have good players. I love our coaching staff. In fact, last time I checked, he coached in the World Cup and there were some pretty good coaching staffs."
I guess Garth did not watch Team USA. But this falls mainly on the general manager. The former goaltender was hired in the summer of 2006. The average tenure of an NHL general manager is 7.2 years. Snow is in his 11th season.
Islanders advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1993. That monkey was finally off the franchise's back. This was the season that the team was to take the next step. Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin took majority control of ownership from Charles Wang. Ledecky, the public face of the ownership said the goal was to bring a fifth Stanley Cup to the franchise and that spending up to the salary cap ceiling was not an issue. Instead, Snow had a disastrous summer that has carried over into the season. Longtime Islanders Matt Martin, Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo left in free agency. There were no negotiations between Okposo and the team. Snow made a last-ditch effort to re-sign Nielsen, who ultimately signed with the Detroit Red Wings. Nielsen's comments on why he signed in Hockeytown were alarming.
"They [the Islanders] gave me a really fair offer," Nielsen said on Sportsnet. "And to be honest it was one of the toughest decisions I've ever had to make. I think, in the end, I've been [with the Islanders] so long. I wanted to try something new, see some new people, new coaches, and you want to get better, even when you're older. This was a good opportunity for me to see something else."
Snow replaced with trio with wingers Andrew Ladd, Jason Chimera and P.A. Parenteau. Ladd, a five-time 20-goal scorer, did not score his first Islanders goal until his 13th game. Ladd, who signed a seven-year $38.5 million deal on July 1, started the season on the first line but has been moved to the bottom six. Parenteau was waived prior to the start of the regular season. Parenteau was brought in to reunite with John Tavares. Their reunion last one preseason game. Parenteau was claimed by the New Jersey Devils and has five goals in 15 games, two more than Ladd and Chimera combined. The reason of Parenteau's exit was likely due to 2015 first-round picks Mathew Barzal and Anthony Beauvillier. Both had strong camps. Barzal played just two games in the regular season and was returned to Seattle of the WHL. Beauvillier has played more than nine regular-season games, activating the first-year of his entry-level contract. He has averaged just over 11 minutes of ice time. Snow lost Parenteau, who had 41 points last season, so Barzal could play in two regular-season games. The general manager also never rectified the three-goalie situation. Jaroslav Halak proved that he was healthy with his strong play in the World Cup of Hockey. Jean-Francois Berube made the opening night roster but has worn a baseball cap instead of a goalie mask.
Halak has started the last six games, going 1-2-3 with a 3.04 goals-against average and .909 save percentage. While playoff hero Thomas Greiss sits and Berube, who the Islanders are high on, but not high on enough to get into a game.
Snow has amassed quite the number of prospects since selecting Tavares first overall in 2009. It can be safe to say that Tavares has been the only one who has fully developed. Following the 2014-15 season, Snow did nothing to improve the forwards instead relying heavily on the trio of Brock Nelson, Anders Lee and Ryan Strome. Nelson scored a career-high 26 goals last season but is extremely streaky. Lee has not been the same since Capuano scratched him in Game 7 of series against the Washington Capitals two years ago. His goal totals went from 25 to 15 and has just one this season. Strome scored 50 points in his first full season in the league dropped to 28 points and spent time in the AHL last season. Snow admitted that shifting Strome from his natural position of center to the wing was a mistake.
"Probably to our own fault in handling Ryan, he was drafted as a center, I personally believe he's most effective as a center. But the way our team is built ... we really didn't have the opportunity to play him for extended periods of time at center. With the loss of Frans Nielsen in free agency I think you're going to see Ryan Strome do the things he did two seasons ago."
We are still waiting as Strome has two goals and three assists in 15 games this season.
Snow's biggest failure as a general manager has the inability to acquire a top-line winger to play alongside Tavares. The captain is in his eight year in the league. The closest Tavares came was Thomas Vanek for 47 games in the 2013-14 season. Cory Conacher started the 2014-15 season on Tavares' wing. Shane Prince's first game with the team following his trade was playing alongside Tavares. Currently Cal Clutterbuck, who played the last two seasons on the fourth line is now on the first line. Perhaps Snow's biggest chance to acquire one came early this summer. Taylor Hall was made available by the Edmonton Oilers. Snow has a history with Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli. Snow acquired Johnny Boychuk from the Boston Bruins for draft picks. When Chiarelli took over the Oilers he acquired 2012 fourth overall pick Griffin Reinhart from Snow for the 16th and 33rd picks in the 2015 draft.
When Hamonic requested a trade to be closer to his Western Canadian home early last season due to family concerns, Snow needed to be on the phone with Chiarelli getting Hall to pack his bags for Brooklyn. Hamonic rescinded the trade request following last season.
To make matters worse, Hall did pack his bags for the east coast, joining the New Jersey Devils for defenseman Adam Larsson.
The Capuano-Snow duo has the second-longest tenure in the league. The longest, no surprise is in Chicago. Stan Bowman and Joel Quenneville have three Stanley Cups during their tenure. Capuano and Snow have one series win. Capuano was hired six years ago as a placeholder during the rebuild. You do not drive on a donut for six years. If Ledecky is serious about winning that fifth cup, he will likely have to clean house, starting with Garth Snow.