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New York Islanders: Doug Weight plans to change the culture

By Nick Ziegler

Mar 5, 2017; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; New York Islanders head coach Doug Weight on his bench against the Calgary Flames during the third period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Calgary Flames won 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 5, 2017; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; New York Islanders head coach Doug Weight on his bench against the Calgary Flames during the third period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Calgary Flames won 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports /
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The New York Islanders have already started their offseason after missing the playoffs this season. What is head coach Doug Weight going to change?

After missing the playoffs, the New York Islanders are preparing to start in a new direction for next season. Due to a slow start to the season, the Islanders decided to fire long-time head coach Jack Capuano.

The firing of Capuano resulted in Doug Weight taking over as the head coach, and the Islanders started rolling after that. Despite having one of the worst records in the NHL last season, the Islanders finished the season strong and missed the playoffs by just one point.

As expected, the Islanders removed the interim tag from Weight, and he will be their head coach next season. Entering the season as the head coach, Weight will have the whole offseason to establish his culture in New York.

Here’s what Weight said to Cory Wright of NewYorkIslanders.com.

"I’m going to make some changes to the people around me a little bit, and I’m going to make some changes starting in training camp, starting on our culture, starting on my first words to each player. Camp’s going to be tougher than it’s been. Camp’s going to be a different look, and we need to have a better start. We need to have a different start than we’ve had in the past. We’ve had some good starts as far as a record, but we need to start with a different inspiration right off the bat, and we’re going to do that. I’m not looking to reinvent the wheel, but I have time now and the luxury now of getting ahead of it and doing things the way I want to do it, and it’s just going to be a continuation of what we started to do last year."

It will be interesting to see what changes the Islanders have going into next season. Culture change can mean a lot of things, but it appears the Weight is going to be a hard-nosed coach.

After a good second half of the season, Weight has earned the respect of the players in his locker room. Also, as a former teammate of John Tavares, Weight has the captains support.

Next: 3 Reasons why Isles should be optimistic

There is still a lot of talent on the Islanders despite missing the playoffs last season. If not for such a slow start, they likely would have been in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season.

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