The last time Butch Goring arrived on Long Island, he was viewed as the “final piece” to the Stanley Cup puzzle. Nineteen years and four Cup titles later, Goring has returned to the Islander family astheir head coach trying to right the NHL’s most troubled franchise.
“I’d like to have entered a situation like I did 19 years ago, but I’m very optimistic about this scenario,” said Goring, who signed a three-year, $1.5 million deal, including bonuses. “One of my goals is to win a Cup as a coach. I wouldn’t have signed if I didn’t think it would happen here. It’s not going to happen tomorrow but management sees light at the end of the tunnel.”
Goring, who was coaching the Isles’ former IHL affiliate in Utah, is the Isles’ sixth head coach in five years and replaces Bill “Did you see our lineup?” Stewart.
“I bleed Islander blue,” Goring said yesterday.
And that’s a chief reason Goring was yesterday’s man of the hour and Stewart was out of a job. After conversations with Stewart following the season finale, GM Mike Milbury was not convinced Stewart would be comfortable in a rebuilding, bare-bones-budget situation. Stewart had a big black mark against him for his remarks following the March 29 Rangers’ game when he said the Isles “didn’t have the resources to acquire NHL talent.”
“We both agreed the timing may not have been right for a young coach starting his career,” said Milbury. Stewart said the parting was “amicable,” adding, “Both sides wanted to explore their options.”
Milbury first contacted Goring Wednesday. Goring flew to Long Island Thursday and speedily hammered out a deal. That’s how badly Goring, who was Al Arbour’s player/assistant coach in 1981, wanted it.
“It’s a dream come true,” Goring said. “Certainly since I became an Islander and Al Arbour made me an assistant coach, there hasn’t been a day that’s past that I haven’t wanted to fill Al Arbour’s shoes.”
Goring played with Milbury in Boston. When Goring became Bruins’ head coach in 1985-86, Milbury was an assistant. But this was about Goring’s Islander past. Although Milbury denies this popular move was done to invigorate season-ticket sales and appease an outraged fan base by embracing the past, it appears the case.
“It’s certainly a positive but that’s not the reason to hire somebody – for public-relations puff,” Milbury said. “That goes away in a hurry. You hire him because he’s been a lifetime coach and he’s been a success.”
Goring called Arbour yesterday and plans on consulting with other Isles from the glory years such as Long Island residents John Tonelli, Clark Gillies and Bobby Nystrom. “They are intelligent people and I’ll try to get their point of view,” Goring said.
Goring, who turned down the Anaheim job last summer, hasn’t had a second chance since the Bruins fired him 13 games into the 1986-87 season. “I’ve wondered whether I had a bad rap,”said Goring, who coached the last nine years in either the AHL or IHL, including with Isles’ affiliates, Capital District, Denver and Utah. “I’ve learned a ton since that time. I’m a lot more prepared this time around.”
And then Goring said something Stewart could not even begin to understand. “Everywhere you go, people are always reminding me of the great Islander days,” Goring said. “So it’s tough when they don’t talk about the Islanders in the same breath. I know the organization has problems. I want to be part of the solution.
“Two weeks ago, I walked into the [Utah] locker room with an Islander jacket,” Goring added. “A comment was made that old habits die hard and they do. I’m an Islander.”
Again. *
John Sanders was promoted to team president, replacing David Seldin, who had unofficially given up his daily Isles’ chores in January during Howard Milstein’s Redskin bid … Goring buddy Lorne Henning and Greg Cronin will be retained as assistants with Swedish goalie coach Stefan Lunner out of the picture.