When the New York Islanders concluded their season by falling just shy of a playoff berth, there were rumblings that longtime general manager Garth Snow would be on the hot seat. After all, the Eastern Conference team had regressed after making it to the second round of the 2015-16 playoffs.

However, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman says such rumblings might not be warranted.

“He is safer than many of us expected,” Friedman said during the Headlines segment of Saturday’s Hockey Night in Canada.

Snow, who’s held his position since 2006, was involved in the recent decision to remove the interim tag from head coach Doug Weight and the organization is reportedly pleased with the work of their GM.

Friedman says the club sought outside feedback on Snow.

“I’ve heard the Islanders hired someone to go around the league and ask and get some impressions about the job Snow was doing,” he said. “Word was the report came back positive. You’re never sure in this league but it does sound that Garth Snow is a lot more safe than we thought.”