The New York Islanders haven’t made the playoffs since 2006-07, but the pieces seem to be slowly falling in place for them. John Tavares is blossoming into a legitimate star, they have found some diamond-in-the-roughs in P.A. Parenteau and Matt Moulson and turned them top-six forwards, and their supporting cast is starting to look impressive. They are still young and have a fair amount of growing left to do, but they have been making progress even if their record doesn’t reflect it yet.
That’s probably what team owner Charles Wang was thinking when he announced that GM Garth Snow and head coach Jack Capuano would return for the 2012-13 campaign. That might be an unpopular decision for a franchise that hasn’t enjoyed a winning season for quite some time while the rival Rangers are on course to secure the top seed in the Eastern Conference, but as painful as a rebuilding process can be, it can also pay off big time.