Sports Media Review by Jonathan Weiler

Wednesday, July 19, 2006
2:22:00 PM EDT
Off-Wing Opinion (http://www.ericmcerlain.com/offwingopinion/archives/006345.php#006345), probably the best internet-based source for information on hockey, has a wide-ranging round-up of reaction to the Islanders’ firing of GM Neil Smith. Smith lasted as many days in the Islanders’ job as Noah did in his Ark and, as Deadspin suggests, “the consensus is clear: The Islanders actually seem more poorly run than the Knicks, and that's just a staggering statement to make.” Oh, by the way, did I mention that I am an Islanders’ fan?

The move is so bizarre that it nearly defies description, and newspapers and electronic media are unanimous in expressing shock at both the timing of Smith’s exit and, especially, his replacement. Smith was the GM of the Rangers from 1988 to 2000 and the architect of the 1994 Stanley Cup Champions, a team that forever ended the “1940” taunt that Islanders’ fans in particular so relished. His replacement – Garth Snow, a goalie for the Islanders the past few seasons with (obviously) no front office/personnel experience of any kind.

Much of the coverage includes Kremlinology style attempts to parse the meaning and timing of various statements by Wang about the machinations leading to this turn of events. But, perhaps most direct in his condemnation of the Islanders was Steve Simmons, of the Toronto Sun, who told ESPNews last night that the “I” in Islanders stood for “idiocy” and that “the Islanders are the laughingstock of the NHL.” Not that I needed it, but Simmons reminded ESPNews that when he started covering hockey in 1981, the Islanders were the model franchise. 

What’s remarkable to me about the organization is that they’ve actually undergone an ownership change, without a meaningful change in their general incompetence as a franchise. When Charles Wang bought the team in 2000, he promised that he would invest in a revenue-poor franchise and reverse years of mediocre (and unattended) performance. Of course, while he is no longer GM, one link between the Wang era and the previous one is Mike Milbury, who was the GM from 1995 until this year and is a certifiable moron. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Milbury) actually has a useful list of guys that Milbury has traded away over the years and Milburyalso did several turns as an interim head coach while GM, “leading” the Islanders to some of their worst stretches of hockey since the franchise’s abysmal first two seasons in the early seventies. Milbury did do one great thing in his career. He hired Peter Laviolette to coach the team in 2001-02 and Laviolette promptly led the team to the playoffs after a seven-year absence. The 2001-02 squad totaled 96 points, the franchise’s best record since the 1983-84 team that lost to Edmonton while vying for its fifth straight Stanley Cup. Such competence is clearly unacceptable to the post Al Arbour Islanders, and after an OK 2002-03 season, culminating in a first round playoff exit, Laviolette was let go. Of course, it took him all of two seasons to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a Stanley Cup title. Laviolette, by the way, was a minor league coach for three years, and won a championship on that level, too, helming the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League to the title in 1998-1999. In other words, as an editorial aside, the guy can coach.

Mike and the Mad Dog deserve some credit here. When Smith was first hired six weeks ago and was interviewed on their show, he was pressed on the issue of how a coach (Ted Nolan) could have been hired before Smith was. Mad Dog in particular repeatedly questioned Smith about whether this meant he didn’t really have control of the team, and Smith never clearly and forthrightly asserted that yes, in fact, it was his team. Wang himself said yesterday that he and Smith had had an understanding about the need to have multiple sources of input on personnel matters, and that Smith appeared to have become increasingly uncomfortable with that arrangement, necessitating his removal.

I know that, as a Yankees fan, I come across as biased when I say that things like payroll and market-size are overrated in determining success on the field (or the ice). But, my experience as a life-long Islander fan is one reason I tend to be disdainful of poor-mouthing arguments. The Islanders are a low-revenue, small-market team who, especially before Wang took over, were among the lowest payroll teams in the NHL. I could never get excited about their economic disadvantages relative to the Rangers and the Red Wings of the world, though, because their obvious organizational incompetence seemed so clearly to be their primary problem. With the advent of the cap, the Islanders will no longer have the same financial excuses. I am not holding my breath for a better outcome any time soon.

Update:

As if it couldn't get worse, EJ Hradek at ESPN.com says Mike Milbury might be the big "winner" in all this:

"Perhaps the biggest winner in this mess is former GM Mike Milbury, who somehow still holds a position of prominence within Wang's sports business and remains a close confidant of the owner. The two men were seen chatting outside the Nassau Coliseum after Wang's late-afternoon media session.

Six weeks ago, at the press conference announcing the arrival of Smith, LaFontaine, player development director Bryan Trottier and new head coach Ted Nolan, Milbury sat quietly at the end of the dais. It appeared he had been pushed out of the loop. Now, with Smith and LaFontaine so quickly out of the picture and the inexperienced Snow in the GM's chair, Milbury again will have a larger voice in the hockey operations. In learning the job, Snow will have to lean on someone. That someone likely will be Milbury, who's the only guy in the building with any GM experience.

If I were a full-time conspiracy theorist (I'm only part time), I might wonder just how Milbury managed to move back to the head of the class. Hmmm?"

Mad Dog interviewed Charles Wang yesterday and got himself very worked up. Wang is just off the wall. He embodies the problem with billionaires as sports owners. Because of his success in business, which he raised repeatedly yesterday, he is convinced that he simply knows better, period. He insists that this decision-by-committee model is the way to go and that Snow's utter lack of personnel experience is a "wonderful opportunity," because he'll be surrounded by knowledgeable people like Trottier, LaFontaine, etc. Trottier was, to put it charitably, not a success as Rangers' coach, and LaFontaine, of course, quit, a few hours after the interview, but I fail to see how Snow's inexperience is a good thing in this case.

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