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Home » Lose Weight Quickly » Islanders aiming for quick turnaround with Doug Weight – FanRag Sports (blog)

The New York Islanders could have hired a coach with more than 600 career wins to his name, but instead, they chose a coach with just 24.

Ken Hitchcock, Lindy Ruff and Darryl Sutter were all available for hire when the Islanders hit the golf course Monday. All three are ranked among the top 11 winningest coaches of all-time. Hitchcock and Ruff are in the top five each with more than 730 career wins.

But hoping for a quick turnaround, the Islanders will stay the course withDoug Weight, as they aim to get back in the playoffs next spring.

Weight took over for the fired Jack Capuano on Jan. 19. At the time, New York sat in last place, but the team surged in the final 10 weeks to finish just one point out of the last playoff spot in the East. Under Weight, the Islanders went 24-12-4, which comes out to a .650 point percentage.

AfterWeight became bench boss in Brooklyn, the Islanders earned 52 points. The only team with more during that same stretch was the Presidents Trophy-winning Washington Capitals. Interestingly, those 52 points were more than what the Colorado Avalanche earned the entire season.

There were other factors at play other than the coaching chance, but the Islanders responded, particularly offensively, under Weight. New York scored an even3.0 goals per game after Jan. 18 vs. 2.83 per contest with Capuano as head coach.

In particular, captain John Tavares scored more in the second half. Under Weight, he tallied 12 goals and 34 points in 35 games prior to sustaining a lower-body injury prior to the final week of the season. In his first 42 games, Tavares scored 16 goals and 32 points.

COLUMBUS, OH DECEMBER 10: New York Islanders Center John Tavares (91) before a regular season game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Islanders on December 10, 2016, at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH. The Columbus Blue Jackets won by a score of 6-2. (Photo by Michael Griggs/Icon Sportswire)

Going back to last season, the Islanders captain recorded 49 goals and 102 points in his final 122 games under Capuano. By no means are those poor numbers, but in the prior four seasons, Tavares was a point per game guy and averaging 0.45 goals per game. His averages dropped to 0.4 goals and 0.84 points per contest in the last two seasons with Capuano.

Those numbers, coupled with the teams last place position into January, indicated Capuanos message had grown old. Again, other factors such as going with Thomas Greiss in net on a full-time basis and the arrival of Josh Ho-Sang impacted the team, but Weight clearly revitalized Tavares and the offense.

For me, Doug had the immediate respect of the players, Islanders general manager Garth Snow said,according to Newsday. In his role as assistant GM and assistant coach, he had a hand in acquiring almost all of our players, so there was a comfort level there when he came in. This was something I was thinking for about the last month of the season.

That familiarity and the tremendous turnaround the team underwent with Weight made the decision to keep him a rather obvious one.

Everyone around the Islanders is going to want to talk about Tavares and his pending free agency in the summer of 2018, but looking ahead to just next season, the Islanders possess very few free agents. Defensemen Calvin de Haan and Dennis Seidenberg are the big ones, and de Hann is only a restricted free agent.

The only other free agents of any kind for New York are backup goaltender J.F. Berube and winger Stephen Gionta. Theres a decent chance that if Snow wants those four players back, they will all return. Of course, the Islanders will lose one player to the expansion draft, but regardless, a vast majority of the team will be back this fall.

With practically the entire roster returning, the last thing the Islanders should have wanted to do was add a shakeup at head coach even if that meant bringing in one of the most successful coaches in NHL history. New York couldnt properly adjust quickly enough to all the free agency changes from last summer, and that ultimately cost them this seasons playoffs.

More drastic changes could set this team back another year. Thats not what they need. Again, the Islanders missed the postseason by just one point.

If the team hadnt done well under Weight, then its a completely different discussion, but their success with him made this a no-brainer. Despite the disappointing season, the Islanders should enter next season with the expectation that they will be back in the postseason next year.

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Islanders aiming for quick turnaround with Doug Weight - FanRag Sports (blog)

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Home » Lose Weight Quickly » Islanders aiming for quick turnaround with Doug Weight – FanRag Sports (blog)