Last night, the Islanders acquired forward Thomas Vanek from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for forward Matt Moulson, a 2014 1st round pick, and a 2015 2nd round pick. Garth Snow had the following to say to Newsday following the trade, "I can tell you I'm not happy with where we are record-wise. We're better then this. I wasn't going to sit by and let games pass."
The bold portion of that quote is the biggest thing that sticks out for me. As recently as this past February, we had the yearly quotes coming from Garth Snow about how he wouldn't mortgage the future for any quick fixes because it wasn't part of the plan. While this is far from mortgaging the future, this surely does deviate from the "plan" that Snow repeatedly made mention to and I think it's about time.
These are quotes from a GM being proactive to try and help improve his team. This is a refreshing change because it shows the commitment to winning that I have been screaming about wanting to see from the team for a really long time. Moreover, we have been wanting to get a player of this caliber to play with Tavares for ever, and now we finally have one. I feel like that Vanek could be to Tavares what Marty St Louis is to Steven Stamkos. As a duo, I think they could set the league on fire. Some have voiced concerns about us resigning him. I feel like that Garth wouldn't have made the deal if he was concerned about resigning him.
While it is a shame to lose Matt Moulson who has been a very good player for us during some really less then stellar seasons. In this league, especially when acquiring marquee talent like Thomas Vanek you have to pay a premium. This trade puts the team on notice and also sends a message that they want to build on last years success and not just tread water or take steps back.
Islanders fans have been calling for something like this to happen for a while. To have Snow show that he has a pulse and the team wants to win and not just hope many things work out. Well, the time is finally here, lets enjoy it!!
People trying to hard to make sense of what doesn't need to be overthought. Vanek is self made and Moulson is JT made.The Vanek trade makes sense.The other Austrian player in the NHL is Grabner. They r hoping that fellow countrymen & Olympians form chemistry. and with that being said hoping that as the only 2 Austrians in the league enjoy playing with each other so much that he resigns on LI. So if Vanek resigns then to me that is the lure for Miller to come to LI to play with Vanek. After all we know Nabakov is on a 1 year deal.
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