Many Islanders fans are still mad at John Tavares, when he left their team to join the Toronto Maple Leafs five years ago.
In a recent interview, the Islanders' GM of that time, Garth Snow, talked about the circumstances leading to Tavares' departure and defended his former captain.
Here's what Snow revealed about the whole process that led to Tavares signing in Toronto.
"The decision by Scott Malkin was that we weren't going to trade him under any circumstances," Snow said. "He was totally committed to re-signing him. I think the quote I had said is, ‘Are you willing to drive the car off the cliff if you go through the season and get to free agency?' He was comfortable with that. That's the bottom line."
Snow Defends Tavares
Tavares received a lot of hate from angry Isles fans. They even still boo him whenever he touches the puck at UBS Arena in Long Island.
Snow stood up for him, saying he doesn't deserve that kind of treatment:
"I feel so bad that [Tavares] gets trashed for something that wasn't his fault," Snow said. "The Islanders could have traded him if they wanted to, but that decision was made. So it's not his fault the Islanders didn't trade him."
If he had been traded instead of signing with another team, all of this could have been avoided. The hate towards him is totally unnecessary and needs to stop.
Let's hope Snow's statement will help some Islanders' fans get some closure.
