MONTREAL — In 40 days and nights, Neil Smith might not have done what Noah was able to accomplish in that same time frame, but the Islanders general manager did construct the final pieces of the 2006-07 playoff team, no small feat in itself, before being told to step away by owner Charles Wang.
It was Smith — working at least partially in concert with Pat LaFontaine and Ted Nolan — who used his limited time and the Islanders’ limited resources to sign free agents Brendan Witt, Mike Sillinger, Tom Poti and Chris Simon, thus proving he did not require an unlimited budget to identify complementary pieces to a puzzle.
Now nearly 6 ¹/₂ years after Smith’s tenure ended under circumstances bizarre and contentious enough that LaFontaine left the Islanders’ family once and for all, there is an opportunity for the men to reunite in Buffalo.
The GM’s job is open following the dismissal of Darcy Regier, and LaFontaine, newly installed as the Sabres’ president of hockey operations, is the individual responsible for filling it.
“I’ve always had a great relationship with Patty,” Smith told The Post in a text message on Saturday sent from St. Maarten, where he is vacationing. “I’d really enjoy the chance to sit down and talk to him about what I could do for the Sabres’ organization.”
Jason Botterill, the assistant GM in Pittsburgh; Rick Dudley, the assistant GM in Montreal; and Paul Fenton, assistant GM in Nashville, are believed candidates for the job with more cachet than Smith. Not one has won a Stanley Cup the way Smith did in 1994.
People kept hiring Mike Keenan after 1994. Nobody other than Wang ever gave Smith another chance. That never has made sense. It never has made sense that Smith was all but blacklisted from the league after being dismissed on Broadway in 2000 because of the $21 million offer-sheet to Joe Sakic that was authorized by Dave Checketts and Garden ownership in 1997.
It’s never made sense that Smith’s post-1996-97 failures all but obliterated his successes in drafting and trading the Rangers into three division championships within the five-year span from 1989-94 after the franchise had gone 47 seasons without a single first-place finish.
Smith’s background is in scouting and identifying talent. Indeed, the GM used his acumen to select Kyle Okposo seventh overall in the 2006 Entry Draft, when, sources indicated at the time, the organization had previously settled on taking Bobby Sanguinetti with that pick, and where have we heard that name before?
In those later years in New York, it was about organization-wide impatience and chasing free agents to fill a marquee. You know who they were: Theo Fleury, Val Kamensky, Mike Keane, Brian Skrudland, among others. (We can omit Wayne Gretzky; that one worked).
But in the early years, it was about patiently amassing assets through the draft then wheeling some for the finishing touches. Puzzle, meet pieces Doug Weight, Tony Amonte, James Patrick, Darren Turcotte, Todd Marchant, Tomas Sandstrom.
Smith, who has been working as an analyst for Rogers Sportsnet and the NHL Network, has a rapport with LaFontaine and with Nolan, who was behind the Islanders’ bench for the 2005-06 playoff season and has been brought back to Buffalo as interim coach.
And Smith has a resume that would make him a credible choice to work in concert with LaFontaine, who is an independent thinker, in rebuilding the credibility of the Sabres.
OK: Zach Parise, Phil Kessel, Patrick Kane, the aforementioned Ryan, David Backes, Ryan Callahan, Joe Pavelski, T.J. Oshie, Jason Pominville, James Van Riemsdyk, Dustin Brown and Ryan Kesler.
That’s 12.
Now you tell me there are four other forwards ahead of Brandon Dubinsky for selection to the USA Olympic Team?
I don’t think so.
Would love to have been able to see how the supremely gifted and creative Igor Larionov — who doesn’t seem to be able to abide the structure under which his client, Nail Yakupov, is operating in Edmonton — would have done playing for the post-Tampa version of John Tortorella.
Through Friday night, nearly two-thirds of 60-minute ties have gone into a shootout, which represents the highest such ratio since the individual skills competition went into effect in 2005-06. … Here’s something the Rangers and Islanders have in common: the mistake evaluating P.A. Parenteau.
By the way, everyone is well aware of the pending free agencies of Henrik Lundqvist (no progress to speak of), Ryan Callahan and Dan Girardi (ditto and ditto).
But the Blueshirts had also best get busy working on a contract for Anton Stralman, who, as a right-handed defenseman playing significant minutes, is sure to command $3 million per season on the open market when his current deal at $1.7 million per expires at the end of the season.
Columbus and Marian Gaborik, now down for a month with a knee injury. That’s been quite the marriage, hasn’t it?