Snow, Weight relieved of their duties; Lamoriello names himself GM

The New York Islanders announced that General Manager Garth Snow and head coach Doug Weight have been relieved of their duties.

In late May, Lou Lamoriello was named President of Hockey Operations and he named himself as the new GM, taking over for Snow. Lamoriello said that both of them will remain with the organization, but their roles are unknown.

“The New York Islanders would like to thank both Garth and Doug for their dedication to the franchise. Both started their tenures with the franchise as players and grew as tremendous leaders to the positions they held.” – Lou Lamoriello

Weight took over for Jack Capuano last season and went 59-49-14 as the Islanders’ bench boss. Lamoriello announced that the Islanders will begin the search for their new head coach “immediately.”

It has already been a busy start to what is going to be a crazy offseason for the Islanders. Lamoriello’s next task is to get franchise player John Tavares under contract—he is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st. Calvin de Haan (UFA), Thomas Hickey (UFA), Brock Nelson (RFA) and Ryan Pulock (RFA) are among their other key free agents.

The Islanders also own the No.11 and No.12 picks in the NHL Draft and have four selections in the first 43 picks—only the New York Rangers (picks 9, 26, 28, 39 & 48) and the Detroit Red Wing (picks 6, 31, 33 & 36) are positioned better in the first two rounds.