Snow takes blame for 2014 first-round pick and the Hamonic-Hall rumors in 2016 weren’t close
Ethan Sears of the New York Post: Back when he was the general manager of the New York Islanders at the 2014 draft, Garth Snow selected Michael Dal Colle at No. 5 when scouts wanted Nikolaj Ehlers. Snow had a bad experience with Ehlers agent Andre Ruferen in 2012 with Nino Neiderreiter forcing a trade.
Snow said they weren’t close in 2015-16 to sending Travis Hamonic to the Edmonton Oilers for Taylor Hall despite the rumors.
“I’m sure there was conversations about Edmonton with Taylor Hall but … we would’ve had to throw in a high pick or another prospect,” Snow said. “There was nothing that was really any traction.”
The Islanders later traded Hamonic and a fourth to the Calgary Flames for a first and two seconds. The Oilers later traded Hall to the New Jersey Devils for Adam Larsson.
Islanders ownership didn’t want to trade John Tavares back in 2018
Ethan Sears of the New York Post: Garth Snow was fired by the New York Islanders in June of 2018. John Tavares signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs less than a month later. Fans remain unhappy that Tavares left, and that they didn’t get anything in return for him. They could have traded Tavares at the deadline but held on to him in the hope of being able to re-sign him. That was all on ownership.
“That decision by Scott Malkin was that we weren’t gonna trade him under any circumstances,” Snow said. “He was totally committed to re-signing him. I think the quote I had said is, ‘Are you willing to drive the car off the cliff if you go through the season and get to free agency?’ He was comfortable with that. That’s the bottom line.”
Snow said that they could have traded Tavares and it wasn’t Tavares fault. He feels bad for how Tavares gets trashed for the situation. Snow added that Malkin took over contact talks after Snow was fired and Lou Lamoriello was hired, but extension talks didn’t get far. The Islanders had about $10 million for Tavaers (he got $11 million from the Maple Leafs).