Twitter:Coyotes1234
The hockey world is aghast at the paltry return Garth Snow and the Islanders received for Tomas Vanek, but they shouldn't be.
It is really easy to say that Snow gave up a potentially huge first round pick and failed to recoup it, and thus the whole thing is a total unmitigated disaster. The pick is protected and the Islanders can elect to keep it this year and let Buffalo have next year's pick, however next year is a supposedly a very talented draft in which several potential franchise players will be available.
Here's the thing though: Garth Snow rolled the dice and even though it didn't work out, it isn't nearly as bad as people are saying. Kudos to Snow for taking the risk. If you are the Islanders, you are saddled with a reputation of incompetence and a whacky owner and a recent history of losing. If you are Snow, you are a recently retired back-up goalie who was given a chance of a lifetime and maybe you don't have that much time left to prove your hiring wasn't as bad a choice as everyone thought and/or thinks. You also have a young and talented roster that might be ready to take the next step. So instead of doing what 99% of NHL general managers would do and wait and do nothing, so that they can keep their job and blame whatever happens on external forces, Snow took a chance.
He sent out a guy he wasn't going to resign and a draft pick for a better player in Tomas Vanek. Now, people are saying he got nothing for this risk, but that is untrue.
Snow got a season of Vanek to try to bolster his playoff chances. They probably wouldn't have had a chance anyways, but Tavares got hurt at the Olympics and ruined any chance. For a while, they had the best line in hockey and he got exclusive negotiating rights to try to get Vanek's name on a contract long term. All the while thinking that he can re-flip him if things go south and recoup the first round pick. It was a low-risk / high-reward move.
So the playoffs and the contract were a bust and Vanek had to be moved. Not a great outcome, but Snow figured to at least get a first rounder and minimize the cost. Now, for some reason, teams were scared off by the contact demands of a guy who is going on 30 and has been relatively injury prone and who hasn't exactly set the world on fire since exploding out of the lockout last year. He's still a talented player with size and the ability to score 40 goals, but the contract he turned down probably benefited the Islanders more in the long run than it would have if he signed it. The upshot is that he had to get moved for less than likely everyone thought.
So Garth Snow got a second rounder and a prospect formerly picked in the second round. If the pick they traded, the first rounder, ends up being in the middle of the first round, this isn't a bad trade: a mid to late first round pick and a second rounder for two seconds is not an even trade, but it's not a disaster. And the first round pick will be in the middle of the round. The Islanders are going to keep this year's pick, select around fourth or sixth and regroup for next year. With an added year of development to all their young players and whatever FAs they pick up over the summer, the Islanders will be in good position to transition from a team with huge potential to one who makes the playoffs. Also, they now have a crazy incentive (i.e not wanting to give up Connor McDavid) to add to their team and try to make the playoffs.
If that's the case, it doesn't look like such a bad move.
But, even if this blows up further; if the Islanders defer the pick until next year and then miss the playoffs again, it's still not something to bitch at or about Garth Snow for.
The fact is, the NHL employs a salary cap and the difference between teams is minimal. You have 7-8 teams worthy of betting on to win the Stanley Cup and you have another 8-12 teams that could win it if they make the playoffs and get lucky. Of the teams that are truly terrible, you only really have two: Calgary and Buffalo. All the other bad teams are so stacked with talent that might move them up to the top tier sooner than later. The league is just so, so close and crammed together. Two wins in a year could make the difference between the Cup (a super lucky one, mind you) and a high draft pick.
Since parity is beyond ridiculous in the salary cap era, if you want to win, you need to find an edge. Taking risks is one way to do this. In poker, they say the best way to make money is to play the opposite style of the table you are playing. Like always, poker provides a way of thinking that can be transferred to other games and strategies. You see, the NHL is run by a group of GMs who are massively conservative (not politically, but in the true sense of the word) and HIGHLY risk adverse. So by rolling the dice, Garth Snow gave himself a chance to level the playing field.
So what if it didn't work out? The guy should be commended for taking a chance, and not thrown under the bus for daring to step outside the status quo of NHL team management. Realistically, the Islanders are a team with loads of young talent. The chance of them finishing last next year are low. They have high-end first round talent like Tavares, Baily, Okposo, Strome, Reinhart and De Haan. That is some of the best young talent in the NHL; Snow should be acknowledged for putting it together and keeping it. All he did was take a chance that his team was ready for the next level, add a superstar and hope to sign him. All it cost was swapping a first round pick for two second rounders.
Garth Snow should be praised for his willingness to take a chance - he hit a home-run length ball that went foul at the last second, then took strike three looking. People shouldn't be so hard on failure. If you don't fail ever it's because you didn't try hard enough. Snow did the math on a risk/reward scenario and he was right: it was worth the risk. The return isn't nearly as bad as people are making it out, and if Snow is still willing to swing for the fence, the Islanders are in good hands.
------- The Coyotes pick up their post deadline schedule tonight against the Canadiens. After playing the Jets in their first game after Maurice was hired and the Blues in their first game with Miller, the Coyotes draw the first game of the Vanek era for the Canadiens.
It figures.
Softening the blow is the fact that the Canadiens played last night in Anaheim and the 'Yotes are well rested.
Even though the Coyotes did nothing yesterday (they made their weak, cheapo, risk-adverse moves on Tuesday night) they are in decent shape to make a play for 8th, since Vancouver got worse, Dallas didn't improve, and neither did the Jets or the Preds. They will start Smith in net, Hanzal is out with an injury to some vague part of his body, Morris is in, and Erat will make his debut.
Furthermore, I just want to say that people commending Maloney for trying and ownership for being willing to add money on rentals are pathetic. If they were really willing to try to win, they would have found a way to do something aggressive and innovative, a la Garth Snow. Instead, they added a player who is owed much less money than his cap hit, and traded a prospect (Chris Brown was called up and will make his Capitals debut tonight) they didn't have to. Believe me, if the Caps can get Penner for a fourth, the Coyotes could have avoided paying for Erat with a real player if they weren't so cheap.
Either way, the game tonight should be a good one. The Canadiens, without Price, and playing back-to-back, are vulnerable and the Coyotes chances, if only slightly, are better today than they were Monday.
Should be an exciting end to the season.
Thanks for reading.