Islanders owners shouldn’t give GM Garth Snow another free pass

Thursday was a snow day throughout the five boroughs and Long Island, so what better time to dig in the shovels around the Islanders GM?

Thursday was a snow day throughout the five boroughs and Long Island, so what better time to dig in the shovels around Islanders GM Garth Snow?

The largely overlooked Brooklyn-based franchise finally — finally! — received some monumental off-ice news last month concerning the long-overdue commitment for a new Belmont arena.

Still, none of that means owners Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin, who delivered on that promise where so many of their predecessors could not, should grant Snow yet another free pass if the skidding Islanders fail to make the playoffs for the second straight year and for what would be the eighth time in his dozen seasons as the team’s GM — a longer tenure now than even the reviled Mike Milbury lasted a decade earlier.

Garth Snow somehow has had more lives than Jon Snow.

Yes (yes, yes), it is true that only NHL-leading Tampa Bay has scored more goals than the high-powered Isles’ 137 this season. They feature an exciting two-line attack boasting three of the top-20 scorers in the league — including the previously maligned Josh Bailey and emerging goal hound Anders Lee skating on either side of franchise cornerstone and pending free agent John Tavares.

Gifted rookie Mathew Barzal is not far behind that trio on the scoring list, and for this, Snow gets full marks, in trading away his former draft bust Griffin Reinhart (fourth overall in 2012) for the first-round selection that netted Barzal (16th overall in 2015).

Of course, the opposite end of the ice continues to be a far different and truly less defensible story for Snow. The Isles have yielded the most goals per game in the league (3.6), even worse than dead-last Arizona.

The former netminder stuck with the mediocre goalie tandem of Jaroslav Halak and Thomas Greiss, and he also banked on replacing blue line minutes-muncher Travis Hamonic with youngsters Ryan Pulock, Adam Pelech and Scott Mayfield. Neither decision has quite panned out, and the recent injury absences of middling veterans Calvin de Haan and Johnny Boychuk only slightly have exacerbated the season-long issue.

Simply, head coach Doug Weight is learning the hard way that trying to win 5-4 or 6-5 regularly is not sustainable over a full season. And the Isles (who won exactly half of their first 40 games at 20-16-4) enter Thursday’s visit to Philadelphia for their midpoint contest of the season with the 19th-best record in the NHL, sixth in the incredibly deep Metro Division, and most important, ninth in the Eastern Conference, just beneath the playoff cutoff.

Snow hasn’t made an impact deal at the trade deadline since his first season as GM in 2007, when he swapped two prospects and a future first-round draft pick — none of which amounted to anything of substance – for rental winger Ryan Smyth.

He can wish in one hand and, well, spit in the other and see which one fills up first like he usually does, or he can push to swing significant moves to upgrade the back end in an attempt to save another fading season.

One year ago, Snow bought more time by convincing the new owners that firing longtime coach Jack Capuano at midseason was necessary.

With the Belmont grand opening still a few years away and Tavares’ status still uncertain until he signs on the dotted line, another playoff miss shouldn’t spare Snow from the same fate.

Winter isn’t coming anymore. It already is here, especially for the Islanders.

OUTTA BOTTE EXPERIENCE

When is Alex Rodriguez going to show up at the WFAN studios to insist to Carlin, Maggie and Bart that he had nothing to do with BomboGenesis?

Speaking of A-Rod, here’s hoping he replaces both Aaron Boone and Jon Gruden in their respective booths at ESPN.

— Back to the pucks, it would’ve been better if Skjei (that’s pronounced Shea, Chance The Rapper) had scored for the Rangers on Monday at Citi Field.

— Imagine the uproar around here if Carmelo, and not KP, came out and said that he was “so tired” before midseason.

— Bills fans donating over $200,000 to Andy Dalton’s charitable foundation after the Cincy QB helped Buffalo make the playoffs for the first time since 1999 is my early frontrunner for favorite story of 2018.

— The Wilpons reverting to operating the Mets like a small-market mom and pop store, not so much.