In what seemed like the 30th time this season, the Islanders came into a big game - a game where their own star player admitted was a must win in order to keep playoff hopes alive - and completely squandered both their own hopes and the hopes of the 15.5K fans at the Coliseum today. The Islanders lost a big one against the Senators and dropped another one to continue wobbling around the .500 mark. This wasn't a game where the Islanders fought valiantly and were simply outplayed. This was a game where the Islanders flat out had no desire and no drive to win from the get go, and it was seen all game long. My question is - is the coach the biggest problem here?
Everyone adored Capuano last season for finally putting together some synchronicity with the team and not allowing the team to be beat up upon anymore. I as well as Carey was a fan of bringing him back to give him another shot. However, in more times than one can count, the team has come out simply not ready to play. The Isles gave up 2 goals within 2 minutes to start a huge game which is, needless to say, disconcerting. There doesn't seem to be a plan on the ice other than the very basic notion of defensive trapping that was famously deployed by the Devils during their heyday. Teams in the new NHL have figured out how to work around this however, and when you're playing against a team that has Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek, naturally when your best defenseman is Andrew MacDonald, the trap isn't going to do much. There was no urgency today, no care, no sense of direction... and we've seen it all before.
I do not deny that some of this lies on the players, but a good coach can do wonders in changing mindset of a team and putting them on the correct path forward. You look at what Ken Hitchcock has done for a Blues team that began the year extremely lackluster. He's changed the mindset of the team, implemented his system which has a record of winning, and now has the Blues as the #4 seed in the Western Conference. Similarly, after being fired by the Washington Capitals after a few years of speculation, Bruce Boudreau quickly took over the job from Randy Carlyle and now has them over .500 and 5 points out of a playoff spot with 23 games to play. Anaheim looked like a lottery team earlier in the year and now looks like a playoff team, and everything changed when the coaching staff did.
It's also impossible to deny that Capuano was given a very poor team this year. Besides Tavares, Okposo, Moulson, Nielsen and Parenteau, there really isn't much to work with offensively. In terms of defense, he was forced to put out a journeyman who was on the edge of retirement as his #2 defenseman and work with only 2 true top 4 d-men. However, that does not excuse his inability to use what he has to their fullest capability. For one, putting Nielsen, Grabner and Parenteau on a line together makes absolutely no sense. Grabner's outbreak last year was in big part due to being slotted with Okposo, who used his physical capabilities to allow Grabner to get open for the breakaway. Having a playmaker, a 2 way forward and a forward whose only attribute is his speed and defense on the same line makes absolutely no sense. Recently, the Grabner-Nielsen-Okposo line has been reunited, but it then leaves the first line without a physical presence. Again, part of that blame undoubtedly falls on Snow for not acquiring a strong forward like Erik Cole last season, but Capuano simply has not done enough and simply doesn't seem to have the hockey intelligence to change his ways.
So what do you do? If Snow wanted to show the fanbase he was serious going forward, he would fire Capuano tomorrow after yet another lackluster showing in a big game and hire Randy Carlyle or Michel Therrien, two coaches who have a lot of experience with young teams and can get them in game shape. Do I expect this to happen? Absolutely not, but the Islanders are coming upon a very serious spot in more ways than one. It's time to make a statement and show not only the fans but the players themselves that they're ready and willing to do what it takes to change the mindset of this organization.
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