Today's New York Islanders hockey franchise reminds me of the bad old days when a certain troll owned the Toronto Maple Leafs (I refuse to say or write his name). What the hell are the Islanders doing? They made a great move this summer by hiring Neil Smith to manage the team and Ted Nolan to coach it. Today they fired Smith after six weeks on the job. Weird, but even weirder is that they replaced him with Garth Snow, their backup goalie. Huh? Smith brought a Stanley Cup to the Rangers in 1994. Garth Snow has no experience at all as a general manager -- bubkis!
Why is all this happening? Leafs fans know all about meddling owners. In this case, it's Charles Wang. He knows just as much about hockey as Snow does about managing. In the article I read on Canoe, it states that everyone must report to Wang. Smith, not being used to this dictatorship, probably didn't endear himself to Wang by doing things on his own. Hence, Snow, the lackey.
It should be interesting watching the Islanders play this year knowing all the crap that's going on behind the scenes. Will Snow fail? Probably. How will the players react to Nolan behind the bench? I think he's a good coach but will have trouble with this team that has not won a playoff series since 1993.
My condolences to the fans on Long Island.
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