This won’t come as much of a surprise, but -- after winning their first playoff series since 1993 -- the Isles are keeping their coaching staff intact.
That’s the plan from GM Garth Snow, anyway.
“There’s a great respect from our players to the coaches and vice versa,” Snow told Newsday on Tuesday. “Sitting through these meetings with the players, there’s a respect that’s impressive to me. Our team is prepared, they’re in great condition, for me I’m very thankful to have the coaching staff we have.”
This means that Jack Capuano, currently the fourth-longest tenured coach in the NHL, will be back for his seventh year on the job. That also means all of Capuano’s staff -- assistants Doug Weight, Greg Cronin and Bob Corkum -- will be back for another kick at the can as well.
The question about a possible coaching change was posed because, on July 1, Scott Malkin and Jon Ledecky take over as majority owners from Charles Wang. You know, the old “new bosses want their own hires” sort of thing.
But in addition to Capuano and staff deserving to stay on board, there’s also the issue of timing. If Malkin and Ledecky did want to make a change -- and to be clear, nobody is saying that -- July 1 would be a tough time to make it.
The NHL draft will have already come and gone, and July 1 also corresponds with the opening day of free agency.
Snow also told Newsday he doesn’t expect to make any front office changes this summer, either.