from Allan Muir of Sports Illustrated,

Garth Snow won’t be mistaken for Sam Pollock any time soon, but the general manager of the Islanders sure has done a nice job of silencing his critics in the past few months. Through a combination of luck, opportunity and gumption, he’s turned his team into a force in the Eastern Conference and earned himself a lot of respect in the hockey world.

Snow’s latest bold strike was the signing of veteran defenseman Johnny Boychuk to a seven-year, $42 million contract on Thursday. Here’s a guy who was wearing black and gold in the preseason before Snow stole him from the cap-squeezed Bruins before opening night. Since then, Boychuk has been a linchpin of New York’s defense, a smart, physical two-way player who can eat a ton of hard minutes against top opponents, and who sets the tone on the ice and in the dressing room. For a guy who can do all that, $6 million per season is more than fair.

You can’t complain about the length of the deal, either. No, the 31-year-old Boychuk is not expected to be a 25-minute ace when he’s 38, but that’s not the point. Snow gave him seven years because that’s exactly what he would have gotten from another GM on the open market. Snow knows what Boychuk has meant to this team. Why go cheap now?

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