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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Knightfall" data-source="post: 2959418" data-attributes="member: 2012">Snow starts quickly on first day as GMAssociated Press7/19/2006 6:26:09 PMWOODBURY, N.Y. (AP) - Garth Snow settled into his new office early Wednesday morning and took a break only to attend a luncheon in his honour.Not bad for a guy who was the New York Islanders' backup goalie one day earlier.Snow traded in his pads for a suit and went from the Islanders' locker room to the board room Tuesday when he was the surprise choice to replace general manager Neil Smith, abruptly fired less than six weeks after he took the job.The change came in a flash. Snow was in Massachusetts when team owner Charles Wang called him Monday to ask if he was still interested in giving up his playing career for one as an executive.''I was surprised. Pleasantly surprised,'' he said at a quaint Colonial style catering hall on Long Island. ''It was an easy decision because it was a lifelong dream.''After lunch, it was back to work.''I've gotten a lot of calls since yesterday,'' Snow said. ''I'm truly excited and I can't wait to win some hockey games.''That will be a change for the Islanders, who missed the playoffs last season and haven't won a post-season series since 1993.The serene setting Wednesday only masked slightly the turmoil suddenly surrounding the Islanders, who have become a bit of a laughingstock franchise.Not only did they lose Smith, the centrepiece of a front-office-by-committee that Wang envisions to be the blueprint to turn the Islanders back into winners, but they also said goodbye to new senior adviser Pat LaFontaine, who quit late Tuesday night after the big changes were announced.''I asked my wife this morning, 'How's the firestorm? She said, 'Not good,''' Wang recalled. ''But you've got to do what you believe is the right thing to do.''We have to put together the right kind of team that becomes a winner. That's what we have to focus on. All of this stuff is sideshow right now.''Skeptics were out in force in early June when Wang introduced his new management team that featured Smith, LaFontaine, Hall of Famer Bryan Trottier and coach Ted Nolan - who like Smith had a hard time getting back into the league after being dismissed from other jobs.Wang had explicit roles for each member of the staff, and when Smith found it hard to work under those parameters he was fired.After 12 NHL seasons, the final four as a backup with the Islanders, Snow felt he was more than ready to take on this unique challenge.His first impression of players from the other side? ''I think they're all overpaid,'' he said.For now, Snow's $750,000 US deal for this season and next counts against New York's salary cap. The Islanders hope to appeal that on the grounds that Snow had recent hip surgery and might not have been ready at the start of the season.''Any 'appeal' would be for the league to decide, subject to oversight by the (players' association) and our impartial arbitrator,'' NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press in an e-mail.Snow intends to lean on the seasoned people around him. He's wanted this job since his days as a walk-on college player at Maine. He was already preparing for life after hockey because he never expected to play professionally.''I'm not as inexperienced as you think,'' said Snow, who will turn 37 later this month. ''I've watched a lot of hockey the past few years and probably from the best seat in the house.''As sad as it may be, I have a copy of the CBA and I read it in my spare time.''Wang and Snow often talked once the goalie joined the organization in 2001.''Sometime you're going to have to grow up and get a real job somewhere,'' Wang would tell him.Snow called Wang right after last season as the search for Mike Milbury's replacement began in earnest. He continued to impress the boss and nearly landed the job when Smith was hired.''I picked up the phone and pleaded my case, pretty much gave him my resume,'' Snow said.Once he took the job, he went to work.The first priority was to prepare for an arbitration hearing scheduled for Thursday with forward Mike York. Snow hadn't given up signing York before going to the table, but was getting ready for any scenario.One piece of business was taken care of when New York reached a one-year deal Wednesday with minor league goalie Wade Dubielewicz, who played seven games last season with the Islanders. Dubielewicz became an instant candidate to take Snow's former job as Rick DiPietro's backup.DiPietro, the No. 1 pick in the 2000 draft, is without a contract and now will negotiate with his friend Snow.''He was excited. That could change,'' Snow said.</blockquote>

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