All-purpose hockey thread...

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

The Garth Snow Gong Show. I like that!

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

JR, think about this: Chris Russo is a hockey idiot. And he knew enough to all but say, "Wang you f'd up."

The Islanders are hopeless.

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

The NY Times' article:

Islanders’ Backup Goalie Steps in for New G.M.

By JASON DIAMOS

As of yesterday morning, Garth Snow was the Islanders’ backup goaltender. By the end of the day, the 36-year-old Snow was suddenly and bizarrely the team’s new general manager, replacing Neil Smith, who was fired after less than six weeks on the job.

Adding more intrigue to the day, Pat LaFontaine, a popular former Islander, resigned as senior adviser to Charles Wang, the Islanders’ owner, according to an official with another N.H.L. team. That official was granted anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the matter.

LaFontaine had been appointed to the position the same day Smith became general manager.

A spokesman for the Islanders said he was unable to confirm or deny LaFontaine’s resignation.

The conflict with Smith involved the lack of a traditional general manager’s role, Wang told reporters yesterday at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y. He was referring to his unconventional view that his team’s front office would be run by committee.

That was a philosophy that Smith ultimately could not work under.

Wang paraphrased Smith as saying: “This is my job. I don’t want to hear from anyone else.” Wang then added, “That’s not the way we work.”

Smith, 51, was the architect of the Rangers’ 1994 Stanley Cup championship team. He became the Islanders’ general manager on June 8, the same day Ted Nolan was named head coach and LaFontaine was named Wang’s senior adviser.

The flurry of moves came a week after the Islanders made Bryan Trottier, one of their greatest former players, their executive director for player development. Trottier was a mainstay on the Islanders teams that won four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1980 to 1983.

“As I made clear at the press conference last month, we are running this as a business, incorporating the opinions of our hockey operations staff, including Ted Nolan, Bryan Trottier and Pat LaFontaine,” Wang said in a statement yesterday. “Despite Neil’s commitment to me that he could work in this environment, he later expressed to me on a number of occasions his philosophical opposition to our business model.”

Wang said there were conflicts from the beginning with Smith. Even an issue as small as who was going to hire the equipment manager became contentious, Wang said.

When asked what he felt the general manager’s role was, Wang said it was to make trades, oversee the scouting staff and negotiate contracts. The rest, Wang said, was to be determined by consensus.

Smith apparently had trouble working with LaFontaine, 41, who played eight seasons with the Islanders. Smith acquired him for the Rangers for the 1997-98 season, but LaFontaine retired at the end of that season because of postconcussion syndrome.

Smith did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Unlike Smith, who was the Rangers’ general manager from 1989 to 2000, LaFontaine had never held a team management position.

Neither had Snow, the Islanders’ backup goaltender, who turns 37 on July 28. Snow was 4-13-1 last season as a backup to Rick DiPietro.

“I spoke with Garth at length throughout the spring about the general manager’s position, and he really impressed me with his passion and his knowledge,” Wang said in the statement. “When the job opened up, the choice was an easy one.

“Garth knows the league as well as anyone, has an eye for talent and understands how our staff works as a team. Most importantly, Garth is a man of integrity, someone I trust will work hard, be creative and represent the Islanders with dignity.”

Smith’s dismissal, LaFontaine’s resignation and Snow’s promotion were reminiscent of the dysfunctional Islanders teams of the 1990’s. While not qualifying for the playoffs from 1995 to 2001, the Islanders were at one point owned by John Spano, who was a 32-year-old Dallas businessman when he purchased the team in 1996 for a reported $165 million that it turned out he did not have. Spano ended up in prison for wire and bank fraud.

At 36-40-6 last season, the Islanders finished 12th in the 15-team Eastern Conference and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2001.

Last month, Smith succeeded Mike Milbury to become the fourth general manager in franchise history. Yesterday, Snow became the fifth. One of his first orders of business may be to find a goaltender to replace himself.

Paul Petrello contributed reporting from Uniondale, N.Y.,for this article.

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

I have a suggestion....



Hey, how much worse could he be? And, considering the cost savings, you may actually be able to call it an upgrade.

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

So the Isles hunt and interview for a GM from January to June, and it never occurs to the owner to tell candidates that decisions will be run "by committee"?

Typically, how much input do owners have in the day-to-day runnings of the clubs? I sort of envision them more as signers of the checkbook than as decision-making hockey people.

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

According to the NYT story LaFontaine and Smith apparently couldn't get along yet LaFontaine chose to resign even after Smith was let go? Love to know more about that decision.

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

Wang is a Daniel Snyder-esque owner, except he knows less than nothing about the sport. He made his fortune as one of the owners of the Long Island-based Computer Associates.

Save for Wang, everyone affiliated with Computer Associates upper management has gone to prison--or is about to go to prison--for fraud. Somehow Wang has tip-toed through the minefield.

He has not had good relations with Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Wang wanted Nassau County to build the Islanders a new tax-payer paid for Coliseum because the current barn is falling apart. Considering that Nassau County residents are amongst the most-taxed in the Nation, that wasn't going to happen. So, Wang began making nice with Suffolk County, in an effort to get what he wanted.

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

Just found a link to these on Youtube on a different forum. Thought they were worth showing. I at least busted a gut laughing

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

Does anyone here cover junior hockey in the states or in Canada?

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

Junior A hockey in Alberta

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

Junior A (OHL), Junior B and Junior C in Ontario.

 

Re: All-purpose hockey (NHL and Olympics) thread...

Some funny Alexander Ovechkin sound bytes.

"He plays good, I play good, everybody plays good."