End of the Snow Error

Yesterday, the New York Islanders finally turned the page on the Garth Snow era, as he was shown the door along with head coach Doug Weight. The end really occurred a few days ago, as Lou Lamoriello came to the Islanders after he was stripped of the General Manager's title in Toronto. So, what did Snow accomplish on the Island/Brooklyn?

• On one of his first days as General Manager in 2006, a role he accepted after retiring and after the Islanders unceremoniously dumped Neil Smith after 41 days on the job, he handed out one of the single worst contracts in league history, as he was the General Manager of record when Rick DiPietro signed his 15-year deal. You know the story, and he was eventually bought out in 2013.
• Draft history: besides John Tavares in 2009 and Brock Nelson in 2010, the Islanders have had trouble developing their top prospects. Nino Neiderreiter was almost ruined before he got traded to Minnesota, where he is now a 30-goal threat every year. Ryan Strome (2011) never developed, and now, he may be for bustdom, as he hasn't developed as hoped in Edmonton. Griffin Reinhart (2012) hasn't even made the NHL as a regular and he's on his third team in Vegas. Michael Dal Colle (2014) is looking more and more like a bust while Josh Ho-Sang (also 2014) is still looking to crack the NHL roster permanently. Mat Barzal and Anthony Beauvillier, both 2015, appear to be future fixtures for years to come, but mostly, the Islanders have had major inability to either develop players or allow them to sink or swim at the NHL level, instead relying on over-the-hill veterans that clog up roster space (see: Ladd, Andrew).
• Dating back to the DiPietro debacle, the Islanders have never been able to identify a number one goaltender. Jaroslav Halak, Thomas Greiss, Evgeni Nabokov, and DiPietro haven't been the answer, and their ability to draft and develop goalies has been awful.
• Incompetence at head coach. Instead of trying to get coaches that know what they're doing or at least a good name coach, Snow went with the likes of Ted Nolan, Scott Gordon, Jack Capuano, and Doug Weight. Those coaches were either incompetent, cancerous, or both.
• The trades: The aforementioned Neiderreiter trade netted them Cal Clutterbuck, and while he's a good fourth line player, they are also stuck with him for four more years. Matt Moulson and a first round pick for Thomas Vanek? Not working. It also forced them to make numerous trades to get back in the first round in 2015..twice. While the picks have worked out to date, it also robbed the Islanders of the number of players they could have added with the extra pick or two.

All Snow has to show for his time with the Islanders: one playoff series win, and even that would be deemed questionable. It will remain to be seen what Lamoriello can do and who he hires as head coach, but one thing is for certain: the bar it set pretty low for the Islanders, and Lamoriello is only being tasked to be somewhat competent.