Another Sad Day On The Island
Hello. Well, I'm going to break with tradition and talk about hockey, specifically the New York Islanders, who from 1972 to 1993 were my favourite team of all time.
Why did I start cheering for the Islanders, an expansion team in '72, when there were so many other better teams at the time? One word - organization. With Bill Torrey as GM, and eventually Al Arbour as coach, the Islanders were the model franchise. They built through the draft, and made a tremendous trade in 1980 to acquire Butch Goring (who should be in the Hall of Fame if Bob Pulford and Dick Duff are there, but I digress) that led to 4 straight Stanley Cups and 19 consecutive playoff series wins, a record that may never be broken.
Potvin, Trottier, Gillies, Goring, Bossy, Smith, Nystrom, Howatt, Morrow, Langevin, McEwen, Kallur, Jonsson, Duane and Brent Sutter, Flatley, Lafontaine.....those names will stay with me forever.
It's no secret the last 13 years on the Island have been bad. Today was one more.
Neil Smith, hired last month as GM, was fired. A man who was GM with the Rangers for 10 years, winning a Cup. Within hours, Pat Lafontaine, also hired last month as player personnel director, resigned. Now the club has filled the GM spot with Garth Snow, last year's backup goalie with no GM experience. They have a new coach in Ted Nolan, and Bryan Trottier has come back to the fold.
What is going on with this club? One word - owner. The owners in the glory days left their hands off. This one, Charles Wang did for 10 years with Mike Milbury, who did nothing, then fires someone like Neil Smith after a month? What's going on?
All I can say is, the Islanders do not look like they're moving up the ladder any time soon with what happened today. And until ownership changes its tune, it may be a long time before anything positive happens. Hopefully the franchise is able to survive. While I hear ownership has deep pockets, the fan base may decay even more than it has.
Long live the Islanders!
Regards,
Steve
Why did I start cheering for the Islanders, an expansion team in '72, when there were so many other better teams at the time? One word - organization. With Bill Torrey as GM, and eventually Al Arbour as coach, the Islanders were the model franchise. They built through the draft, and made a tremendous trade in 1980 to acquire Butch Goring (who should be in the Hall of Fame if Bob Pulford and Dick Duff are there, but I digress) that led to 4 straight Stanley Cups and 19 consecutive playoff series wins, a record that may never be broken.
Potvin, Trottier, Gillies, Goring, Bossy, Smith, Nystrom, Howatt, Morrow, Langevin, McEwen, Kallur, Jonsson, Duane and Brent Sutter, Flatley, Lafontaine.....those names will stay with me forever.
It's no secret the last 13 years on the Island have been bad. Today was one more.
Neil Smith, hired last month as GM, was fired. A man who was GM with the Rangers for 10 years, winning a Cup. Within hours, Pat Lafontaine, also hired last month as player personnel director, resigned. Now the club has filled the GM spot with Garth Snow, last year's backup goalie with no GM experience. They have a new coach in Ted Nolan, and Bryan Trottier has come back to the fold.
What is going on with this club? One word - owner. The owners in the glory days left their hands off. This one, Charles Wang did for 10 years with Mike Milbury, who did nothing, then fires someone like Neil Smith after a month? What's going on?
All I can say is, the Islanders do not look like they're moving up the ladder any time soon with what happened today. And until ownership changes its tune, it may be a long time before anything positive happens. Hopefully the franchise is able to survive. While I hear ownership has deep pockets, the fan base may decay even more than it has.
Long live the Islanders!
Regards,
Steve
posted by Irrelevant at 6:48 PM
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