Quick Hits With Garth Snow

As we add the New York Islander prospects to those who we cover; it is a new experience in dealing with the franchise but not their prospects. While the Islanders are not sending a team of prospects to one of the prospect tournaments; their prospects are expected to report to the Islander training camp on Saturday.

Like it or not the Islanders have a very promising group of prospects coming down the pipeline which is bad news for the rest of the Atlantic Division.  From Nino Niederreiter and Brock Nelson up front; Calvin De Haan and Travis Hamonic on the blueline and Kevin Poulin and Mikk0 Koskinen in goal; the Islanders despite what others may think this is a talented bunch.

Kimber Auerbach the Islander’s Director of Communications set up a telephone interview with Garth Snow where he talked to us about the prospects. What follows is the highlights of an enlightening chat with Garth Snow.

PP: Garth thank you for taking the time to talk to us so can we start by asking what is perhaps the easy question: What are the reasons for Islander fans to get excited about the future?

Garth Snow: We are excited about our prospects; when you go though our prospect pool there are some young players who already have 1 year- 2 years under their belt at the NHL level like Josh Bailey (2008 1st), Kyle Okposo (2006 1st) and John Taveres (2008 1st).

We  feel that we are in a position now to take the next step and we feel our future is bright and obviously with players like Calvin De Haan, Travis Hamonic, Mark Katic; then at forward with Nino Niederreiter and Brock Nelson and right on down the line.

I forgot to mention one defenseman (Matt) Donovan; he played extremely well at the World Juniors and has played really well at the college level. So we are really excited about all of our prospects.

PP: Which prospects are you hoping to step up and make a strong run at a roster spot this season?

GS: Yes we are looking for John (Taveres), Josh (Bailey) and Kyle (Okposo) to make that next step as pros and obviously John now that he has a full year of the NHL under his belt to look for him to take the next step.

We have players at the forward position like Jesse Joensuu and Matt Martin who are right on the cusp of making our team and we feel there will be a good competition from within to make us a better team and get us to where we need to be.

On the blueline we have Andrew McDonald who we were fortunate enough to sign to a 4 year extension who was really dominate at the AHL level at a young age. You know we  are excited (about the future).

PP:  Can you talk a bit about your prospect development program and what the Islanders do as a franchise to help their draft picks grow into players that hopefully will become NHL players?

GS: Half the battle is drafting the right player; the other half is to accept the challenge to develop those draft picks. Whether it is a player who is in Europe, junior or college hockey; we have a great staff here that will travel throughout the season and will communicate with the players on how to make themselves better hockey players; to get them to the next level.

There are different levels of player development; there is what I like to call the grassroots of development where the player is in the juniors or college or Europe in their first or second year of their being drafted.

Then there is our second phase which is getting them into our system getting them playing in Bridgeport or if we are fortunate enough to have a player who can play with us immediately then the coaches here as well work tirelessly to make our young players better.

PP:  Can we talk for a bit about the 2010 draft picks and how the 2010 draft wound up falling into place as it did for the franchise? At 5 you select Nino Niederreiter when most expected you to grab a defender so what was the difference maker to you that said “this is the player who will help us the most?” Then you gave up both your second round picks to move up to 30 to select Brock Nelson so what was his difference maker?

GS: (Nino) Well he has a lot of qualities that I think every organization is looking for in a prospect. First of all he is great kid; he is a power forward; a big body who’s got the drive and skill level to become a dominate player. We were extremely pleased to be able to select Nino at 5.

I think the one element that some people forget is that Nino is a week away from being in next year’s draft so he is the youngest player selected in the 2010 Draft. He just has a lot of the qualities that we feel will help use get to the next level.

GS: (Brock) Another situation where we feel we got a quality person. We feel that he is going to fill out that big frame of his. He has a great hockey sense, he is going to a great program at North Dakota, and we just feel that we can take our time with Brock and watch him develop over the course of 2-3-4 years.

What ever that time frame is; we feel that he is going to be a big part of our future.

PP: The one player that everyone is asking about is Kirill Kabanov. To be honest even we said we would not touch so what sold you on him in the 3rd round?

GS: For us if you rewind to a year ago; he was slated to go in the top 10 probaly the top 5. He is a top talent that we were comfortable to select in the 3rd round and obiviously he has to mature physically and off the ice as well.

We have just felt that it was a swing for the fences and he performed at an extremely high level at our prospect camp this summer. We are looking forward to working with him to get him to the point where he will be a quality pro.

PP:  At the Orange and Blue Scriminage when you saw so many fans in the stands to see your prospects in action; did you take it as a sign that the Islander fans see that the franchise is starting to turn the corner and believe better things are coming?

GS: Well I think it is a direct reflection of the excitement that our fanbase has embraced in regards to our prospects. We have one of the most passionate fanbases around and whether it is walking down the street or getting stopped in a restaurant; our fans are getting excited about our young players and the direction we are going.

We had an 18 point increase in the standings last year with a much younger group than the year before (2008-09). Our fans are excited and bullish on our team and that (the scriminage) was just one example on how our fans are embracing our team

PP: One of the traditions we have at Prospect Park is to give the last word to the person we are talking to so Garth Snow here is your chance to talk to the Islander fans and what would you like to say to them?

GS: I think when I look at where we are as an organization; I am very bullish on where we are and where we are going. We have a great young core and some great prospects not only at the NHL level but also at the AHL level, college, junior and in Europe.

It is an exciting time to be an Islander fan and we are looking to do some great things this year and in the future.