Just How Hot Is Garth Snow's Seat?

July 18, 2006. That was the day Garth Snow retired from NHL play and moved into NHL management, taking over Neil Smith’s position after an illustrious 41-day tenure as Islanders General Manager. Almost eleven years later Snow continues to hold this position, overseeing one last hurrah for the squad he inherited, followed by a long and arduous rebuild.

A GM in place for over a decade that built his team from the ground — surely, they must have had some great successes along the way! Well, you see, here’s the thing…

They haven’t.

The easiest thing to do would be to blame the guy running the show, but we first must consider the facts. And when we consider the facts, we find that the seat on which Garth sits is probably burning his ass right about now, or at least should be.

Let’s start with the positive moves Snow has made since his tenure began. One I’m willing to give him credit for (though I probably shouldn’t be) was the “last hurrah” move I referenced earlier. When he was hired in the summer of ’06, the Islanders were a patchwork Mike Milbury quilt that wasn’t sewn together very well: a starting-to-fade Alexei Yashin was that team’s best player. That New York was even competing for a playoff spot around the deadline was pretty miraculous.

Anyway, with the Islanders hovering around the postseason cutoff going into the trade deadline, Snow decided to go big or go home. He sent two of Milbury’s former first-rounders (Ryan O’Marra and Robert Nilsson) and the Isles’ upcoming first-round pick to Edmonton for 18 games of Ryan Smyth. His play, coupled with a lot of luck and a Wade Dubielewicz poke-check, led to the Islanders clinching an Eastern Conference Quarterfinal date with the Presidents Trophy-winning Buffalo Sabres — that was a thing at one time or another, for newer fans that only know the Sabres as a runaway tank. It only took five games for the Isles to be dispatched.

Despite the early exit (and the not-so-certain standing of the team when Snow made such a bold move), I like to think that Snow came in and saw Milbury’s guys had no chance of working out and figured, “Ah, f*** it,” hoping for the best. And the pick they gave up amounted to nothing, unless you’re a big Alex Plante fan (for what it’s worth, I’m skeptical of Mr. Plante’s existence). I’ll give him that one.

Fast forward a tad and, following the 2007–08 campaign, the Islanders committed to a full-scale rebuild — starting with trading down twice in the first-round to stockpile numerous draft picks over the two impending drafts. The tank was completely on the next season, as the Isles tumbled into the end of the season in 30th place. Luckily there wasn’t any lottery ball voodoo, and the Islanders retained the right to select John Tavares number one overall.

Let’s be clear: Snow doesn’t deserve any credit for Tavares. Sure, he may have intended to be so bad so that he could pick him, but even I could’ve made that pick. Thankfully, he didn’t botch it and pick Victor Hedman or Matt Duchene — great players in their own right, but just not Tavares.

However, this does segue nicely into discussing Snow’s draft record. It hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t been terrible, either. Some of the selections that remain in the league with the Islanders or otherwise include: Josh Bailey, Travis Hamonic, Tavares (of course), Calvin de Haan, Nino Niederreiter (oh there’s so much to unpack there), Anders Lee, Ryan Strome, Brock Nelson, Anthony Beauvillier, and some others I’m sure are missing. In addition, Snow has built quite the stable of upcoming prospects in Ryan Pulock (who should be in the NHL, frankly), Mathew Barzal, and the recently-promoted Josh Ho-Sang.

He’s also worked the waiver wire and free agent scrap heap rather brilliantly in the past. He signed P.A. Parenteau, at the time a career minor-leaguer, to a cheap one-year deal and combined him with Tavares and Matt Moulson quite nicely. Michael Grabner (2011) and Thomas Hickey (2013) were both snagged off waivers when teams thought they could sneak these guys into the minors to start the season.

Before 2014, Snow wasn’t so great when it came to trades. During the summer of 2013, he dumped unhappy top-5 pick Nino Niederreiter in Minnesota for grinder Cal Clutterbuck (who I love, but whose talent level doesn’t come close to Nino’s) and a third-round pick. Clutterbuck has fit nicely on the team, but Niederreiter is arguably Minnesota’s best player and one of the best two-way wings in the league.

A couple months later he traded Tavares’ linemate and buddy Matt Moulson, along with a first-round pick and second-round pick for Thomas Vanek. Both players were on expiring contracts and despite similar production, Vanek was seen as the better talent. Snow’s hope was that he’d be able to convince Vanek to stick around by exposing him to what he’d be signing for, and the chemistry between he and Tavares was strong enough that he nearly did sign — narrowing his choices down to the Isles and the Wild during free agency. But he had been rumored to be Minnesota-bound since before the season (having attended college and finding his wife there), and did eventually end up there.

The Islanders weren’t playoff-bound that season, though, and Vanek had to be dumped at the deadline; all Snow was able to get in return was a weak prospect in Sebastian Collberg (who hasn’t worked out) and a second-round pick.

Summer 2014 was Snow’s crowning achievement. Before the playoffs ended, he traded a 4th-rounder to Washington in exchange for the rights to negotiate exclusively with Jaroslav Halak and signed him to a 4-year deal — solidifying the crease for the first time throughout his tenure.

On the second day of free agency he signed, in tandem, Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolay Kulemin. They wanted to sign somewhere together, and Snow was willing to meet their prices. This was huge because Grabovski was one of the most underrated offensive and play-driving talents throughout the league. He commanded a good amount of money, but was one of the main factors in the Isles turnaround going into 2014–15. He could plug in anywhere, and it’s a shame that he has probably been forced into retirement by concussions. If he was healthy, he’d be playing every night.

Snow wasn’t done there, though. A week before the season he stole both Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk within an hour of each other from the Blackhawks and Bruins respectively, and only gave up T.J. Brennan, Ville Pokka, and two second-round picks (the Isles and Hawks also swapped goalies Anders Nilsson and Kent Simpson).

In one summer, he vaulted the team into contender status — they finished the season 3rd in the Metro, and 4th in the league in CF% while playing some of the most entertaining hockey I’ve ever watched. If the Isles had shown up for Game 7 in Washington, we might be talking about Snow in an entirely different manner.

That June at the draft, Snow sent defensive prospect Griffin Reinhart to Edmonton for a first and second-round pick. He used the first to select Barzal (ranked by Corey Pronman as the second-best prospect not currently in the NHL) and used the second to trade up to select Beauvillier, who’s currently in the NHL. Reinhart, on the other hand, can’t make the Oilers. A great way to flip an asset that isn’t working out, but horrendous use of the 4th overall pick.

New York didn’t dominate the league the same way the following season, but still got in to the dance as a wild card. And despite being thoroughly outplayed, they snuck past the Florida Panthers with some all-world goaltending from offseason acquisition Thomas Greiss and some star-making heroics from Tavares. Tampa Bay wasn’t feeling so generous in the next round, but had broken a curse in place since 1993 — before I was even born.

Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo were set to become unrestricted free agents this past offseason, and while Snow negotiated throughout the season with Nielsen, he intended to let Okposo walk. He must have felt they needed a shake-up, bringing in 31-year old Andrew Ladd and 37-year old Jason Chimera to replace them. Ladd ended up with a 7-year deal with an AAV of $5.5 million (he also brought Parenteau back on a 1-year deal, only to stupidly waive him before the season began).

Both Ladd and Chimera seemed to struggle to adapt at first. Ladd only had one point through all of October (which was an assist) and Chimera only had two goals going into December — both were also getting killed possession-wise. Meanwhile, Nielsen and Okposo were off to rather hot starts with Detroit and Buffalo respectively, and the Islanders dropped to last place in the NHL.

It was painfully obvious to even the casual observer that something needed to change by November/December. I mean, they even looked definitively terrible. With rumors of the owners searching for a new boss of some kind to take over hockey decisions Snow finally fired his friend Jack Capuano as head coach, with assistant coach and assistant GM Doug Weight taking the reigns on an interim basis.

Since Weight took over the Isles have been on a 15–7–3 tear, including 5–3–1 on the 9-game road trip that finished up last night in St. Louis. They currently sit a point out of the second wild card with a game in hand on Toronto, but if Snow had pulled the trigger on firing Capuano a month earlier, the Isles might have a solid grip on a playoff spot.

In one season, Snow undid the beautiful job he had done a couple years prior. The Islanders tumbled to the bottom of the league, and while they’ve recovered quite nicely (as have Ladd and Chimera, rejuvenated under Weight), Snow’s seat should still be roasting underneath him. John Tavares’ prime isn’t going to last forever, and neither is his contract. He is able to sign an extension this summer, and if he doesn’t sign on July 1 (the first day he can) there should be great cause for concern.

The NHL is a results-based business. All Snow has to show for his massive, sprawling rebuild is one lucky playoff series victory. The only reason he should be kept around at this point is if he has a great relationship with Tavares — and rumor has it that he does. Perhaps that is Garth Snow’s only saving grace.