Written by Arthur Staple at Newsday.com
Doug Weight has been named Islanders head coach, removing the interim tag for the longtime Isles assistant coach and assistant general manager.
Weight, 46, took over from Jack Capuano on Jan. 17 with the Islanders sitting at 17-17-8 and in last place in the Eastern Conference. The Isles finished the season 24-12-4 under Weight, including wins in their final six games to miss the playoffs by a single point.
Nearly every Islander endorsed the move to make Weight the permanent head coach on Monday when the team held its exit meetings.
“I think you saw what he brought to the team and really sparked the great finish we had to the season and gave us a great opportunity to make it,” John Tavares said. “So a lot of guys responded individually as well. I think he did a great job of handling the group and there’s a lot of respect for Dougie. So, yeah, I mean, he was great for me as well, challenged me and tried to put me in a position to succeed individually. So, yeah, I thought he did a great job.”
There’s no word as of yet whether Weight will keep all of his current assistant coaches and if the team will look to add another assistant to replace Weight since no one was added to the staff when Capuano was fired.
Islanders owners Scott Malkin and Jon Ledecky reportedly are still looking for someone to add in a role to oversee hockey operations and GM Garth Snow, but Weight staying on as coach would appear to indicate the owners are going into this busy offseason happy with Snow holding the reins.
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