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Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MythMan who wrote (425815)	3/6/2014 10:54:11 AM
From: Rarebird	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 436258

<<I have no idea what the Islanders were doing..>> I'm a big time Islander fan so I at least got an idea: The Isles biggest weaknesses coming into the season were goaltending and defense. GM Snow did nothing to improve those areas in the offseason. When Visnovsky, Strait and Nabakov got hurt, the Isles spiraled out of control. As for Vanek, the GM took a wild gamble that he would sign with the Isles. Vanek did produce nicely for the Isles and he did mesh very well with Tavaras and helped make Okposo a much better player. Problem was that Vanek wanted to sign with a winner and the Isles haven't done much of that over the years, including this one. Free agents want to play in winning situations. Sure, they want tons of money and security too. But they want to play for a winner. That's one major reason why Vaek turned down the Isles 7 year 50M offer. The other reason is more domestic. Vanek's wife is from Minnesota and word has it that his preference is to play for the Minnesota Wild. Vanek played college hockey in Minnesota, which is where he met his wife. The Isles GM claimed that there was not a lot offered for Vanek. Perhaps that was because there were a lot of other forwards available at the deadline. Plus, just about everyone knows that Vanek's desire is to play for the Wild so how much will you offer someone for a rental of 18-20 games and the playoffs. Vanek does need to adjust and it took him a few weeks to get adjusted to Tavaras and Kyle Okposo. Montreal offered the most for Vanek. GM Snow's big mistake was thinking that he had a chance of signing Vanek. He gave up a lot and got little in return. But keep in mind the Isles are not the Rangers, Flyers or some beloved team North of the Border where the fans will show up regardless of the record. The Isles have one of the worst fan bases in the NHL outside of the Coyotes and Stars. That is to say, the Isles don't have the $$$ to compete with the upper echelon NHL teams. I'm in the camp that thinks the GM should be held accountable and fired. The Isles have a lot of young defenseman in the pipeline, but desperately need 2 goalies.