Who Would Replace Capuano?

 photo courtesy of http://cdn.newsday.com/

With the Islanders recent struggles of late, talk has been rampant about whether or not the teams play would cost another coach their job like it did Scott Gordon a couple years ago.

So with that we started to wonder who could be some possible replacements for Capuano:

1. Marc Crawford-He is a Jack Adams award winner, has the history of coaching teams while they are in transition like the Islanders are, and is the third youngest coach in NHL history to reach 400 wins.  On top of that, he has a cup ring with the Avalanche from the 1995/1996 season.
2. Mike Keenan-Like Crawford, Kennan has one cup ring and that came with the rival Rangers in 1994.  He is the 5th winningest coach in NHL history.  Kennan currently serves as an analyst with MSG for the Rangers but he would certainly be worth a call to find out if he would like to coach again.
3. Doug Weight-Currently an Islander assistant and one of the favorites for the job since he was named to a management position with the team before last season after announcing his retirement.  An ideal situation for Weight would be to get some head coaching experience in the minors before jumping right to the NHL.  While he is a NHL hall of famer, that doesn't mean he would be a great coach and look no further then Wayne Gretzky for proof of that.  Additionally, Weight is a great spokesman for the franchise and someone people around the NHL have respect for.  Once things would inevitably go bad under him, they wouldn't just be firing a coach but a great spokesman for the team and that is something at this stage the Islanders just can't do.
4. Brent Thompson-Fresh off his division title with Bridgeport last season, over the summer Thompson was named an Islander assistant coach.  Different then Weight, Thompson has a pedigree having been a head coach/assistant coach in the AHL for upwards of half a dozen years.  Not sure how his coaching style would translate here, but I think there is a decent chance we see it.

While I would prefer one of the top two guys or someone of that pedigree to be our next coach, I know that will only happen in a dream world.  The fact is that coaches like that won't touch this team with a ten foot pole due to our owner.  Its pretty much certain that Weight or Thompson will be the next head coach and Scott Pellerin currently the Bridgeport head coach will probably end up being an assistant coach.  Thus continuing the cycle of coaches for this team over the last half dozen years or so.  When does the cycle end?

 photo courtesy of http://theahl.com/