Garth Snow

American ice hockey player (born 1969)

Garth E. Snow (born July 28, 1969) is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender and former general manager, president and alternate governor of the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). Drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in the sixth round of the 1987 NHL Entry Draft, Snow began his NHL career in the 1993–94 season, playing for the Nordiques, Vancouver Canucks, Pittsburgh Penguins, and New York Islanders, with which he retired with after the 2005–06 season. He was inducted into the Rhode Island Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019.

Snow was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques out of Mount Saint Charles Academy in the sixth round of the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. He went straight to the University of Maine for four years and for three straight years led the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in wins. After helping lead the school to a 42–1–2 record and the NCAA Championship in 1993, he was named to the All Tournament team. After spending the majority of 1993–94 playing for the United States national team, which included playing in the 1994 Winter Olympics, he turned to his professional career, seeing his first NHL action in five games for the Nordiques. Snow recorded 32 wins in 62 games for the Cornwall Aces of the American Hockey League (AHL) during 1994–95. After the Quebec franchise relocated to Colorado, Snow was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for two draft picks during the off season. Snow backed up veteran Ron Hextall for over two seasons, alternating with Hextall during the Flyers' run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1997, most notably playing in Game 2 of the Finals. Near the trade deadline in 1997–98, he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks for Sean Burke. As a Canuck in 1998–99, he registered career highs in games played (65), wins (20) and shutouts (6). His workload was cut in half the following season and he signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins prior to 2000–01. His stay in Pittsburgh lasted one season as he signed with the New York Islanders in the off season, playing for them for the rest of his career, primarily as a backup to veteran Chris Osgood and then youngster Rick DiPietro. Throughout his career, Snow was the target of the league office on several occasions over his goaltending equipment, in particular his shoulder pads, which opposing teams accused of violating NHL rules on size. According to former teammate Michael Peca, Snow was one of the best trash talkers around: "He's got such a wit and sense of humor like no other. Snow says things that will cut you without being rude or obnoxious." Snow was regarded as a respected leader both on and off the ice.

On July 18, 2006, Snow officially confirmed his retirement and was named general manager of the New York Islanders following Neil Smith's dismissal after 41 days on the job. There was much criticism directed the Islanders' way for firing a Stanley Cup winning general manager after such a short tenure in favor of Snow, who at the time of his hiring held no experience in management. Defenders of the organization pointed to Snow's master's degree in Administration and bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Maine. In Snow's first season as general manager, he earned praise for making moves to open up space under the salary cap and using the space to trade for Marc André Bergeron, Richard Zedník and Ryan Smyth. Snow was named NHL Executive of the Year for 2006–07 by Sports Illustrated. Early in his tenure Snow signed goaltender Rick DiPietro to a 15 year, $67.5M contract which is widely considered to be one of the worst NHL signings ever as DiPietro only played 175 games after this contract was signed. On November 15, 2010, Snow fired head coach Scott Gordon and promoted Jack Capuano to interim head coach after the Islanders suffered a poor record of 4–10–3 in their first 17 games of the 2010–11 season. Capuano went on to guide the Islanders to their first playoff series win since 1993 during the 2016 playoffs. On January 17, 2017, Snow fired Capuano and promoted Doug Weight to interim head coach in response to the Islanders' record of 17–17–8 through 42 games of the 2016–17 season, which was ranked last in the Eastern Conference at that time. Through the 2017–18 season, his tenure with the Islanders saw the team accrue 11 playoff wins. On June 5, 2018, Snow's position as Islanders' general manager was terminated, although he remained with the organization through 2019.

Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP W L T OTL MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV% 1986–87 Mount St. Charles Academy HSRI 30 — — — — 1,795 53 10 1.77 — — — — — — — — — 1987–88 Stratford Cullitons MWJHL 30 20 6 0 — 1,642 93 2 3.40 — — — — — — — — — 1988–89 University of Maine HE 5 2 2 0 — 241 14 1 3.49 — — — — — — — — — 1990–91 University of Maine HE 25 18 4 0 — 1,290 64 2 2.98 .879 — — — — — — — — 1991–92 University of Maine HE 31 25 4 0 — 1,792 73 2 2.44 .883 — — — — — — — — 1992–93 University of Maine HE 23 21 0 1 — 1,210 42 1 2.08 — — — — — — — — — 1993–94 United States Intl 23 13 5 3 — 1,324 71 1 3.22 — — — — — — — — — 1993–94 Cornwall Aces AHL 16 6 5 3 — 927 51 0 3.30 .891 13 8 5 790 42 0 3.19 — 1993–94 Quebec Nordiques NHL 5 3 2 0 — 279 16 0 3.44 .874 — — — — — — — — 1994–95 Cornwall Aces AHL 62 32 20 7 — 3,558 162 3 2.73 .900 8 4 3 402 14 2 2.09 — 1994–95 Quebec Nordiques NHL 2 1 1 0 — 119 11 0 5.55 .825 1 0 0 9 1 0 6.78 .667 1995–96 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 26 12 8 4 — 1,437 69 0 2.88 .894 1 0 0 1 0 0 0.00 — 1996–97 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 35 14 8 8 — 1,884 79 2 2.52 .903 12 8 4 699 33 0 2.83 .892 1997–98 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 29 14 9 4 — 1,651 67 1 2.43 .902 — — — — — — — — 1997–98 Vancouver Canucks NHL 12 3 6 0 — 504 26 0 3.10 .901 — — — — — — — — 1998–99 Vancouver Canucks NHL 65 20 31 8 — 3,501 171 6 2.93 .900 — — — — — — — — 1999–00 Vancouver Canucks NHL 32 10 15 3 — 1,712 76 0 2.66 .902 — — — — — — — — 2000–01 Wilkes–Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 3 2 1 0 — 178 7 0 2.36 .920 — — — — — — — — 2000–01 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 35 14 15 4 — 2,032 101 3 2.98 .900 — — — — — — — — 2001–02 New York Islanders NHL 25 10 7 2 — 1,217 55 2 2.71 .900 1 0 0 26 2 0 4.71 .895 2002–03 New York Islanders NHL 43 16 17 5 — 2,390 92 1 2.31 .918 5 1 4 305 12 0 2.36 .910 2003–04 New York Islanders NHL 39 14 15 5 — 2,015 94 1 2.80 .899 — — — — — — — — 2004–05 SKA St. Petersburg RSL 16 — — — — 893 41 1 2.75 — — — — — — — — — 2005–06 New York Islanders NHL 20 4 13 — 1 1,096 68 0 3.72 .886 — — — — — — — — 2005–06 Bridgeport Sound Tigers AHL 1 1 0 — 0 60 1 0 1.00 .967 — — — — — — — — NHL totals 368 135 147 43 1 19,837 925 16 2.80 .900 20 9 8 1039 48 1 2.77 .896

Year Team Event GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% 1994 United States OG 5 1 3 1 299 17 0 3.41 .881 1998 United States WC 5 1 2 1 260 12 0 2.77 .865 Senior totals 10 2 5 2 559 29 0 3.11 —