The New York Post reports Garth Snow and the Islanders will not be looking to add another veteran forward after the Brian Rolston trade. Speculation started because former Islanders Alexei Yashin and Miroslav Satan have recently been skating at Iceworks.
"Right now, I don't have any plans to add another forward to our group," Snow told The Post. "As much as we'd like to add quality veterans, we're not going to box out our young guys."Snow also stated they want to give young players such as Nino Niederreiter a chance to make the team out of training camp.
CH: There was a lot of speculation a few weeks back the Islanders were planning on bringing back former captain Alexei Yashin. Lately, it's somewhat died down a little but the fact that Josh Bailey has not been re-signed yet has been curious to some who think the two are related (I don't believe they are). When news broke that Miro Satan was skating at Iceworks, the speculation returned, which is why I assume Snow gave this interview. The fact is that neither of these guys are coming back barring a slew of injuries, and even in that case it would somewhat surprise me to see them back. Both players are slow, getting up there in age, and though a guy like Yashin may still be able to put points on the board, the other aspects of his game are lacking.
The key to this article was that Snow specifically stated he wasn't looking to add any forwards, but said nothing about trying to add a defenseman. It's common knowledge that the Islanders need a top-4 defenseman, and the inability to do so could classify this off-season as a failure. While we are still in wait-and-see mode, time is starting to run short. If Snow is determined to get a defenseman, he could still make it happen before training camp, most likely in early September. But as far as the news of the forward core being mostly set, well, that's certainly nothing else but expected.
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