Nolan done on the Island

From Greg Logan of Newsday:

The two-year marriage of inconvenience between Islanders general manager Garth Snow and coach Ted Nolan ended today. Irreconcilable differences over the direction of the franchise led to a mutual decision by Snow and Nolan, who met earlier this morning at Nassau Coliseum, to part ways.

Nolan quickly gained popularity with Islanders fans in his first season when his motivational touch and hard-working style of play produced an eighth-place finish in the Eastern Conference and a playoff berth by a team most experts picked to finish near the bottom of the NHL. But last season’s playoff hopes faded because of injuries and a series of distracting internal disputes between Nolan and Snow, and several key players apparently lost faith in the coach’s methods.

Read the entire report here.

It was known that Snow and Nolan had been squabbling for a while now, so this move comes as no real surprise. In fact, it was probably the right move for the organization to make instead of bringing this controversy to training camp. The Isles need to make sure they hire a new coach who has a willingness to develop young players, as Nolan is considered a coach that prefers playing veterans.