Snow looking for help for Tavares?

<<From the Toronto Sun:

Isles looking for help for Tavares?
By BRUCE GARRIOCH, QMI Agency
Last Updated: December 11, 2010 11:02pm

Garth Snow appears ready to do some pre-Christmas shopping before next Sunday's
holiday roster freeze.

Sources say the New York Islanders GM is concerned he's going to hurt the
development of 20-year-old centre John Tavares. The low-spending club is
actually looking to add a veteran winger as quickly as possible.

The Isles — who only reached the floor of the salary cap this season thanks to
the $4.75-million (all terms US) hit from Alexei Yashin's 2007 buyout — are
the last team you'd expect to be a buyer.

But it's pretty clear Tavares needs help.

Going into Saturday's visit by the Atlanta Thrashers, Tavares — the No. 1 pick
in the 2009 draft — had eight goals (one in his previous eight games) and six
assists in 23 games and was a whopping minus-17. The talk is he won't walk when
he becomes an unrestricted free agent, he'll run.

"(Snow) has to be careful they don't ruin Tavares with this kind of
atmosphere," said an NHL executive. "They are teaching him how to fail and he's
been put in a bad atmosphere.

They've got to get some veteran help to take some of the heat off him."

There aren't many veteran forwards on the trade market, and the Islanders would
like to bring in a top-six player. As reported recently, Tampa's Simon Gagne is
one of the few options available.
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Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home
telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on
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