TORONTO-The players don’t get off the hook here, let’s make that very clear from the start.
There is no excuse for this Islander team to enter last night’s games with only 13 wins, or to have won seven of its last 37. There is no excuse for this Islander team to be tied for last overall in a 30-team NHL that includes two franchises that began play this season, one that began play last season and one that began play two years ago. Minnesota, Columbus, Atlanta and Nashville; the Islanders are behind each and every one.
There is no excuse for the lack of professionalism we’ve been subjected to from this Islander team, one that is supposed to be hungry and committed but in fact has taken on a fat- cat aura without ever having anything over which to be phat. I keep hearing about the veteran leadership in the locker room, yet I keep seeing a team that’s barely professional in its habits, approach to the season and regard for the franchise it represents.
It’s time for accountability in the locker room, too, you know. Time for the Islanders to take a long, hard look at the atmosphere their alleged leaders have created, lest their impressionable youth begin to get the idea that this is way a major-league hockey team actually behaves.
But then, the Islanders haven’t been a major- league hockey team for a very long time. And after all of the excuses, after all of the explanations, after all of the time all of the mitigating circumstances have bought Mike Milbury and his hockey staff, there now can be no doubt. There can be no doubt of the charge Charles Wang and Sanjay Kumar must execute.
If this newest and apparently most sincerely committed Islander ownership since the mid-’80s has any hope of restoring credibility to its product, it must clean out the executive branch of the hockey department and must do it now. That means Mike Milbury and that means his assistant, Gord Clark.
No one will ever know whether Milbury might have succeeded on the Island had he operated under stable ownership. No one will ever really know how many bad trades and faulty player- personnel decisions were forced upon him by bosses more interested in the state of their own bulging pockets than the fortunes of their team. No one will ever know whether Milbury himself has been the problem.
I do know, however, that Milbury is not the solution.
I do know that as the Islanders become only the sixth team in NHL history to miss the playoffs for at least seven straight seasons – this the sixth under his watch – that Milbury has not earned another chance.
Wang and Kumar must understand this; they simply must.
And so there is no reason to delay. It is time to move on. It is time for the Islanders to make the break. Time for Milbury to get on with the rest of his career. Know what? He’ll live longer, too, relieved of this burden.
There is no urgency for ownership to select a replacement, none at all. Director of pro scouting Ken Morrow can assume Milbury’s responsibilities on an interim basis, or maybe associate coach Lorne Henning can move for now into the front office. Wang and Kumar will have plenty of time after April to identify and then interview candidates. Clearly, the first postseason call should be placed to Bill Torrey.
Less than 20 years after a dynastic run of greatness equaled in all of league history by only the Canadiens, the Islanders have become the NHL’s Shipwreck Franchise. They have been submerged for more than a half-decade. Something is terribly wrong there and has been for a very long time.
Now there is no more time to waste. Now it is time to act. Now it is time to begin the salvage operation. Even months from now will be too late.
And the only way a salvage operation can succeed is for it to begin with Milbury’s dismissal.
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ACCORDING to a reliable Western Conference snitch, Blues will be evaluating Roman Turek’s work over the next few weeks as GM Larry Pleau decides whether it’s necessary to go after a big-time goaltender in a run for the Cup.
Does the name Mike Richter ring a bell?
And while the Blues are uncertain about their direction in nets, so are the Red Wings, who have been frustrated with Chris Osgood throughout the season. On Wednesday, Detroit surrendered six scoring chances to Nashville . . . and the Predators managed to come up with three goals. The Red Wings, who have been keeping their eye on Nikolai Khabibulin for months, like Nashville’s Mike Dunham, too.
Meanwhile, as it appears that the Phoenix transfer of power will indeed take place sooner rather than later and perhaps, as the league desperately hopes, by next weekend’s All-Star festivities in Denver, we’ve learned of another entry in the Khabibulin sweepstakes.
Tampa Bay, we’re told, has significant interest in the still-unsigned Group II free agent, and is offering Dan Cloutier to Phoenix as part of the package. If the Coyotes deal Khabibulin rather than signing him, they’ll want a young goaltender in return.
And The Great Gretzky had a tremendous amount of respect for Cloutier when they were teammates in New York.
The Canucks, also seeking goaltending help, also are beguiled by Cloutier, whom GM Brian Burke would have been happy to accept as part of a package from the Rangers for Pavel Bure had Neil Smith tossed Manny Malhotra into the mix.
The Sharks and Bruins, we’re told, are active in their pursuit of Phoenix’s Jeremy Roenick, unrestricted at the end of the season. Sharks want him as a replacement for the injured Vincent Damphousse, who may be back for the playoffs . . . By Thursday, 15 teams had called Montreal regarding Eric Weinrich while 21 had called Minnesota about Sean O’Donnell.
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IT IS impossible to have an appreciation for hockey and not appreciate the Devils, who play the game the way it’s meant to be played night after night after night as they push to achieve a consistent standard of excellence.
So then how to explain the ESPN and ESPN2 schedule which, for the remainder of the season, will feature the defending Stanley Cup champions just twice, once on each network, once as an opponent of the Rangers, once as an opponent of Mario Lemieux?
Maybe it’s ignorance.
The Rangers will be featured eight times (five times on ESPN), the Flyers will be on 10 times, the Sabres will be on six times. The Panthers get four appearances and so do the Bruins. Even the Caps will be on three times, and we know how compelling Washington hockey can be, don’t we?
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FINALLY, Gary Bettman has warned the current Phoenix administration not to remove the “99” keys from the Coyotes’ computer keyboards when the transfer of power does indeed go through.