Islanders’ GM Milbury Follows Coach Stirling Out the Door

Not only do the Islanders have a new coach, they’re going to need a new general manager, too. A shake-up in the making finally occurred yesterday when assistant Brad Shaw replaced fired coach Steve Stirling, and GM Mike Milbury said he’ll step aside after helping owner Charles Wang pick a successor.For Isles fans, the news couldn’t come a moment too soon. Through four separate ownership groups, the man known as “Teflon Mike” managed to keep his job despite never winning a single playoff series as Isles GM.Originally hired to coach the team in the summer of 1995 by Don Maloney, Milbury took the reins as GM when Maloney was terminated in December of that year. For the first half-decade of his tenure, Milbury was hamstrung by the Isles’ limited fiscal resources, and was continuously forced to deal higher priced veterans in order to keep the team’s payroll down. But Milbury proved to be a shrewd evaluator of talent when he traded established stars like Zigmund Palffy and import top-notch prospects like Olli Jokinen.But it was only when Wang took over in 2000 that Milbury was finally freed to make the moves he wanted to make – and that’s when things took a turn for the worse. Money removes inhibitions, and Milbury proved unequivocally that he’s a better GM when working with a tight budget. In fact, his ill-fated veteran acquisitions undermined all the good work he had done in stockpiling prospects with a strict budget.The worst omens were two pre-Wang deals in which Milbury acquired Trevor Linden and Felix Potvin. Milbury gave up both Todd Bertuzzi and Bryan McCabe in the Linden deal. And though it took both players a few years to develop into the All-Stars they are today, the fact remains that Milbury gave up far too much to acquire an over-the -hill Linden.Then, to acquire Potvin – who was struggling mightily in Toronto – Milbury gave up Calder Trophy winner Bryan Berard. Potvin’s time on the Island was an unmitigated failure, while Berard remains one of the NHL’s most effective power play quarterbacks.When Wang took over, Milbury tried to make his big splash, and it proved disastrous. First, he traded away franchise netminder Roberto Luongo and Jokinen to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Oleg Kvasha and Mark Parrish in a huge 2000 draft-day deal. Kvasha has been a huge disappointment, while Parrish can be categorized as a solid second-line forward, at best.Following the Luongo trade, Milbury selected Rick DiPietro with the first overall pick in the draft. DiPietro might still develop into a top-flight netminder, but the Isles would be a much better team today had Milbury instead selected Dany Heatley or Marian Gaborik and kept both Luongo and Jokinen in the fold.Draft day 2001 was even more dramatic, and cemented Milbury’s legacy, for better (or, as it turned out) for worse. He acquired Alexei Yashin and Michael Peca in separate deals, in the process trading away Zdeno Chara, Tim Connolly, and the draft pick that became young Senators star Jason Spezza. The Isles finally returned the playoffs in the spring of 2002 (for the first time since 1994), but they weren’t able to advance past the first round.Worst of all, the bloated 10-year, $90 million contract Milbury bestowed on Yashin is a salary cap albatross that will weigh on the franchise until the summer of 2011.Given that the team needs to restock with youth, it would seem that former Islanders great Brent Sutter would be an excellent choice to take over. As the GM and coach of Team Canada’s gold medal-winning World Junior team, Sutter has his pulse on hockey’s future. Moreover, his history with the team – he was a member of the Isles’ dynastic squad that won four straight Stanley Cups in the early 1980s – makes him a candidate the Isles’ beleaguered fans will be quick to embrace.

Islanders’ GM Milbury Follows Coach Stirling Out the Door

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