In Which Garth Snow Chirps Cornell Alum Gary Bettman; Doug Weight Talks Transition

New York Islanders GM Garth Snow was Gary Bettman's guest on NHL Live Thursday night answering questions from the commissioner and co-host E.J. Hradek.

As far as public appearances in guarded on-air mode go, these are usually decent interactions with Bettman since the length of the interviews allows for a little more than the typically canned "working hard" fare.

It also allows for a little chirping, as Maine alum Snow demonstrated when Bettman asked about P.A. Parenteau and Matt Moulson, who Bettman's "a little partial to since he went to Cornell."

Responded Snow: "Oh is Cornell Division I, Gary? I forget."

Full interview is embedded below, along with a separate nhl.com story with Doug Weight on his transition to post-playing life.

Garth Snow on NHL Hour with Commissioner Gary Bettman

Of minor note was Snow's response to a question about goaltending depth, or at least a Rick DiPietro question that he steered toward general goaltending depth.

When ticking off his goalies Snow included Mikko Koskinen with Kevin Poulin and Anders Nilsson. Early this season when the Islanders had six somewhat healthy goaltenders between the NHL and AHL, Koskinen was loaned to KalPa in Finland, where he's done well. But Koskinen is in the last year of his entry level contract and a pending RFA this summer, so the signals from that move -- it created needed playing time for all three at the time -- are open to interpretation.

A simple qualifying offer would retain Koskinen's rights beyond this season, and it only makes sense to at minimum do that. Snow doesn't usually tip decisions off before they happen -- so we shouldn't read much into him mentioning Koskinen in an interview like this -- but with two pending unrestricted free agents in net and DiPietro continually injured, I wouldn't write Koskinen out of the organizational depth chart yet.

Even if he's qualified but playing in Europe again, it's not the worst thing to have developing goalies stationed in multiple leagues (juniors, college, AHL, Europe) so that they aren't robbing each other of reps.

Doug Weight: Retirement is Hard.

Also at nhl.com is a nice little write-up on Doug Weight's adjustment to no longer being a player.

"I realize how fortunate I am, but it's a tough transition," Weight said. "I have to stay on top of my emotions and continue to keep busy and find things. There's never going to be the adrenaline you have walking out of the tunnel in a Game 7 or scoring a goal. You have to find things that motivate you."

Weight also talks about the learning curve behind the bench and the evolution of his relationship with players he used to captain and now must put on a train straight to Calgary handle in a slightly different way. For Snow's part, he sees Weight in his GM advisory role as a 12-month employee, as opposed to other coaches who get to take off and recharge during the summer.