Breaking news from the New York Islanders on Tuesday as the team has announced that head coach Jack Capuano has been relived of his head coaching duties. The team also announced that assistant general manager Doug Weight will be filling in as interim head coach of the team.
#Isles News: Jack Capuano has been relieved of his duties as Head Coach. Assistant GM Doug Weight will serve as interim Head Coach.
— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) January 17, 2017
New York Islanders Fire Jack Capuano
In the Islanders press release, they thanked Capuano for his services to the team throughout the years, “The New York Islanders would like to thank Jack for his tireless work throughout his seven seasons with the with the organization as head coach. His leadership has guided the team to the playoffs in three of the past four seasons, which included two straight 100-point seasons. He is a great coach and an even better person. We wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”
Capuano had this to say regarding the news, “It’s an honor to have served this historic franchise and its passionate fans. I’d like to thank Garth (Snow) and our ownership group for the opportunity to be the head coach of the Islanders. I’d also like to recognize our coaching staff, training staff and players for all of their hard work.” Both quotes via the New York Islanders press conference.
Jack Capuano’s Career
Jack Capuano first joined the New York Islanders franchise during the 2005-06 season, when he was hired as an assistant coach. In 2010, he was named as interim head coach, but before long, the title of “interim head coach” was changed to “head coach” and Capuano took over from there. He ranks second on the Isles all-time lists in both games coached (with 482) and games won (with 227), trailing the Islanders legendary head coach Al Arbour (1,500 coaches, 740 won).
In his coaching career with the team, Capuano has an overall record of 227-191-64. He has led the Islanders to the Stanley Cup Playoffs three times since he filled in as head coach in 2010. The farthest he has ever led the team was in 2016, last season, when he led the team to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.
The Islanders have had a rough 2016-17 season, currently sitting in 28th place in the entire League and eighth (last) place in the Metropolitan Division with a record of 17-17-8 with 42 points earned. The Islanders will most likely not make the playoffs and will go into the summer with their work cut out for them if they hope to return to post-season contention next season.
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