Islanders hoping their star won’t jump ship in future
HERE’S THE hardest truth of them all: Just because John Tavares wants to stay with the Islanders doesn’t necessarily mean he will.
Shivers are running down the spines of all those invested in this franchise, especially for those at the top — Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin. In their first year as majority owners, they’ve had to address two types of urgency, and the first was dealt with when they fired coach Jack Capuano on Tuesday. It was a big step toward establishing accountability, which has long been a hollow buzzword around this franchise.
The second comes this summer, when the stakes are much higher. The type of managerial framework in place, from team president to general manager to coaching staff, will be paramount to the decision Tavares makes when the Islanders slide a contract extension across the table sometime after July 1. That is the first date the superlative captain, signed through next season at the league’s biggest discount of $5.5 million, can sign an extension. One should expect the offer being close to a blank check for him to fill out.
“I’ve always stated how much I’ve liked it here, and appreciate what the organization has done for me,” Tavares told The Post before he once again proved his monumental worth, scoring two world-class goals in a 3-0 win over the Stars on Thursday night at Barclays Center, the first game with Doug Weight as interim head coach. “I think when the time comes, that’s when everything will be handled and I’ll worry about it then.”
Tavares is 26 years old, but the No. 1-overall pick from the 2009 draft is in the midst of his eighth season in the league and is far beyond his years in maturity. He knows it’s a business, and he knows part of it is coaches getting fired — even if Capuano took over for the fired Scott Gordon just 17 games into Tavares’ second season.
He also knows that time in this league is limited. The window of his prime is still wide open, and will be for the next few years. So who will he entrust it to? Will Tavares believe in the people that Ledecky and Malkin put in charge?
Right now, that’s general manager Garth Snow, who has held his title since 2006. One of the many half-truths he uttered in announcing Capuano’s firing was about his own job security, when Snow stated: “I don’t even worry about that.”
Well, maybe not worry, as in on a daily basis, but it would be foolhardy to think it isn’t weighing on him in some fashion as Ledecky continues to search for a team president to oversee all operations, including the work of the GM.
Snow rightfully took accountability for the Islanders winning just 17 of their first 42 games (don’t let the Peter Pan math of the NHL fool you into thinking a record of 17-17-8 equals a .500 club). And Tavares trusts Snow, at least to the extent that he’s the only GM the young star has ever played for. After a half-decade of laughable noncompetitiveness, Snow eventually turned this team into one that has made the playoffs in three of the past four seasons and won a postseason series last spring for the first time in 23 years. Credit Capuano for a lot of that, too.
But that modicum of success carries very little water in the new NHL, and the mistakes Snow has made — most notably losing out in close negotiations with Frans Nielsen this summer — have been just as crucial to this season’s downfall and Capuano’s firing.
“I think there has been a lot of speculation about a lot of different people in the organization,” Tavares said. “As long as I’ve been here, Garth has been here. That stuff is out of my control. I’m just going to worry about playing, and when my situation comes up this summer, or when that time comes, I’ll obviously handle it then.
“I’ve always stated how much I’ve wanted to be here, so that hasn’t changed.”
Not yet, at least, and it’s on Ledecky and Malkin to make sure it doesn’t change. It was easy to see on Thursday night that if Tavares leaves, then the Islanders might as well pack up the franchise and move to Quebec City — and then it won’t matter who’s in charge.