That or use some of those picks to find us a Goaltender and perhaps defensemen that play defense... All I know is I was seriously considering canceling my NHL package for next year and now am almost sure I'll renew it. This is the type of news this team has needed for almost 30 years.
It's truly amazing when you realize that except for the 6 weeks of Neil Smith this is literally the first time in 25 years the Islanders have had someone competent in charge of hockey operations.
Kovalchuck a finisher playing next to Barzal a playmaker. That would be nice. I also expect Lou to upgrade both the D and the G. Have to wonder if Weight even gets a shot to coach them next year. Lou who fired Robbie Ftorek with 8 games left in the regular season because he thought the team wasn't playing well in a year the Devils led the EC and went on to win the Cup. Lou doesn't mess around. Weight either gets canned or is put on a very short leash.
Greg I can not see Weight coaching,,,,not now,,,,,,he might be retained in some capacity but I think we get a new coach and I will be Happy when that happens
Snow had to be gone, of course. Weight had two very different seasons, one very good, one bad, so it’s hard to know which is the real one.
Wore my Isles shirt today; clearly the hockey Gods guided my wardrobe decision this morning. Watching Ovechkin in the finals is the example for Tavares to stay — you don’t have to jump ship to win if the organization is strong. When in doubt, I lean towards the full season.
signing Lou and dumping Snow was a huge move in the right direction for the Islanders. as a Ranger fan, I'm not thrilled by these moves
They are staying with the organization, just not in their current positions. Lou is fair but firm, he knows those guys have families and need to provide for them. I’m so happy right now, all I need is the Capitals to win the cup and my hockey season is complete.
Lamoriello being "fair" has nothing to do with it - Weight and Snow have contracts, and they're going to be paid either way. Keeping them in the organization (which is all that was announced) only means that they won't be free to go work for anyone else during the term of their contracts. In fact, if anything this is Lamoriello screwing Snow and Weight, since if they were fired they'd have the exact same money and the freedom to go do something else if they wanted to. That might actually be an issue for Weight (I refuse to believe that Snow could get a job with anyone else even as a Zamboni driver at this point).
They could have bought them out and sent them packing. He said he would like to pick their minds on certain things as he makes decisions for the organization. It could just be lip service and he’s really not going to ask their opinion on anything after he starts to see some of the decisions made by them, Snow in particular. Guys moving on to other organizations has never been an issue with these sport organizations. Coaches get fired and are hired withing a couple of days. Boudreau, Byilsma, Trotz, Hitchcock, Gerard Gallant, all much better coaches than Weight were fired at some point in their careers and their former teams didn’t care if they went on to work for other teams. Honesty, I don’t care what he does for them, I’m just glad Snow is not making personnel and contract decisions for the islanders anymore. Hopefully he can find a way to get rid of some of these bad contracts that were given out by Snow.
I've been waiting for this day for what seems like forever. We have actual NHL caliber people running the team, or at least a person, but its a start.
That's exactly my point - once someone is fired they're free to get any job they want, while also getting all of the money that they are due (no one has to agree to be bought out at a reduced rate - managing and coaching contracts are guaranteed). The fact that Snow and Weight were not fired is worse for them, not better, as it results in them having no choice in what they might be doing tomorrow, while still paying them the exact same amount of money. It is worse for the coach/GM, and to me (for Snow in particular) adds nothing for the team, either, so I can't see any reason why Lamiorello is doing it.
I’d always assumed sports contracts are for a specific role; you can’t strip a head coach of his head coach role but the contract still be enforced if his contract was to be the head coach. If that’s the case, Weight and Snow would have to agree to amend their contracts to move into other roles but the rest of the terms still be enforced.
Yeah, that certainly is a relevant point - I assumed that it was to at least some extent a “general services” contract, or else Snow and Weight would just say no. That’s what Lamoriello’s contract was with Toronto, which is why they could demote him but still have to give permission for the Isles to go after him.
Snow’s a moot point; he’d have been a fool to refuse a reassignment because he’d be out of the NHL if he did so. Weight is more interesting and I wonder if, after a full season of coaching, he even wanted to continue as a head coach. If not, this is the perfect scenario for him to slide into a different role, possibly of his choosing.
