By the summer of 1995 Sutter had coached 536 regular- season games to Melrose’s 209 and Milbury’s 160. Melrose and Milbury may have been glamorous by virtue of their television work, but the Islanders brand would have benefited more from winning than razzle- dazzle.49
Early in the search Long Island’s newspaper made a strong endorsement. Beneath the headline “Isles Need Milbury,” Newsday columnist Jim Smith openly challenged Maloney to sign the fiery former defenseman. Smith reasoned away Milbury’s history of drifting between 72
THE BAYMEN AND THE BRUIN
jobs: his resignation as Bruins coach after only two seasons in 1991, his departure as assistant general manager in 1994, and a two- month stint as coach at Boston College that ended when Milbury quit over
“philosophical differences” with the athletic director before a single game. Smith also twisted Milbury’s unorthodox tactics with the Bruins.
Milbury was once so angry after a playoff loss that he left his players at the dinner table to pay for their own meals and checked them into a fleabag hotel. His actions could be viewed as the mark of a volatile man. Smith held them up as a laudable display of tough love.50
Milbury’s past was even more checkered than Smith acknowledged.
As a defenseman in 1979 he was at the center of one of the most surreal and violent incidents in NHL history when the Bruins climbed into the stands at Madison Square Garden and fought with Rangers fans. At one point Milbury pinned a man across a seat and began beating him with his own shoe in what became the enduring image of the brawl. He was suspended for six games and fined $500.51 A decade later Milbury was just as unpredictable. By virtue of the Bruins’ appearance in the 1990 Stanley Cup Final, he became an automatic coach in the 1991
NHL All- Star Game, allowing him to fill out the majority of the roster.
In a controversial decision, he passed up Kirk Muller, a four- time all-star, in favor of a Bruins enforcer with an unsavory reputation. The decision indicated that Milbury did not think much of the man now centering the Islanders’ top line.52
Still, Smith was unequivocal in Newsday. He pointed to Milbury’s two playoff runs with the Bruins and labeled him “the best man available” to become the Islanders coach. Given Milbury’s aspirations for a front- office job, Smith even wondered if Maloney, with one season left on his own contract, had “the guts” to hire his potential successor.53
The media pressure seemed to work. As the Fourth of July
approached, news broke that the Islanders were close to signing Milbury. Using the same phrase from Smith’s article, a team source was quoted saying, “Everybody thought Donnie didn’t have the guts to hire Mike and he did.” Milbury understood his role in the Islanders’
new brand identity. He told Newsday that he appreciated how the team was “rebuilding, everything from a new logo to a new infrastructure.”
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He signed a five- year contract reportedly worth $3.5 million, making him one of the best- paid coaches in hockey.54
On July 5 the Islanders introduced their sixth coach at a press conference in a restaurant in Westbury. Standing in front of a large mock- up of the fisherman logo, the forty- three- year- old Milbury pulled on an Islanders jacket while cameras flashed. For a rebranded organization in desperate need of excitement, the signing was a rare public relations triumph in the short term. The New York Times credited ownership with hiring “the best available candidate.” Flamboyant television commentator Don Cherry, who coached Milbury in Boston, called him a “tremendous choice for the Islanders.” The deal gave the impression that the Islanders could afford top- tier talent without breaking the bank on more lucrative player salaries. Milbury vowed to bring his trademark intensity to Nassau Coliseum. “It doesn’t mean you have to be a raving maniac day after day,” he said, “although that will happen.”55
Milbury made clear his intention to move away from the history of the organization. “I’ve heard enough talk about people wanting to put the past behind them that it must be an issue for some people,” he said. “It just doesn’t happen to be an issue for me. That was somebody else’s past, not mine. In a way, that’s maybe why I’m here, and not somebody else. I’m part of a fresh approach to this thing. As much as I respect what was won then, I don’t live that day to day. And neither should these guys. And they won’t.”56
In fact, the Islanders’ new coach had reason to despise the tradition associated with the Islanders’ old logo. His twelve seasons with the Bruins from 1975 to 1987 overlapped with the Islanders’ rise to prominence and dominance, including two seasons when New York eliminated Boston from the postseason. As an irritant on a series of gritty Bruins teams, Milbury tussled with the Islanders’ Gord Dineen and Bob Nystrom and fought Duane Sutter three times in six days during the 1980 playoffs. Milbury had been such an antagonist during the dynasty era that his hiring as coach threatened to alienate the alumni.
At his introductory press conference Milbury took a shot at the Stanley Cup players by suggesting they overstayed their welcomes on Long 74
THE BAYMEN AND THE BRUIN
Island. Many of them had remained on the roster long after the last championship in 1983, and their declining production contributed to the gradual deterioration of the brand. “I think it was widely viewed around the league that this team may have fallen victim to its own sense of loyalty to its players,” Milbury said. “Perhaps because of the Stanley Cups that were won in the 1980s, they felt the obligation to let that team stay intact until everybody retired. In retrospect, I think it was a mistake for them, and probably for the players.”57 The Islanders later released a commemorative videotape in which the narrator claimed that Milbury was “respectful of the past” from his first day on the job.58 But the New York Times was more accurate with its headline,
“New Coach Emphasizes Break with Isles’ Past.”
In the crowd were veteran Islanders players Pat Flatley, Derek King, and Mick Vukota, who were teammates in the late 1980s with the same dynasty stars that Milbury was knocking. But Vukota was more focused on Milbury’s promise of a long- term plan to bring the Islanders back into contention. “I’m that guy that drinks the Kool- Aid,” Vukota said.
“So I’m in. You got me. I was excited.” The Islander Insider newsletter announced the hiring with equal enthusiasm. “Hate the new logo? Hate the new colors?” a front- page column asked. “You should love that the Islanders are finally moving in the right direction!” In a conversation with Milbury one reporter pointed out that fans loved the new coach and hated the new logo. “By the end of the season,” Milbury cracked,
“that will be totally reversed.”59
Although Milbury’s arrival earned instant kudos from players and fans, the rebranding of the Islanders remained incomplete. As the press pointed out, the team had little chance of success unless Milbury was granted the scorers and solid goaltenders that Henning lacked. “The mandate now is for the organization to make the uniform look better by providing the depth that leads to job competition,” the Daily News opined, “and for the players to make the uniform look better by the performance it should require to keep their jerseys on a nightly basis.”
Maloney agreed that Milbury alone could not save the new Islanders brand. “The only thing we expect out of Mike right now is to make sure the team shows heart,” he said. “It’s up to us to get the personnel.”60
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4
New Team, Dashed Dream
After unveiling a new logo in June and a new coach in July, the Islanders had three months to assemble a new roster to wear the fisherman jerseys in their inaugural season. Putting together the right mix of youth and experience was critical to the success of the rebrand. More than any other factor, the team’s performance in 1995– 96 would dictate fans’ long- term response to the fisherman jerseys. “Everyone knew if the team succeeded, everyone would buy into the new logo,”
said Pat Calabri
a, the Islanders’ vice president of communications.
“But if the team didn’t succeed, it would be a lightning rod for all the team’s failures.”1
The Islanders entered the off- season with several holdovers worth keeping. Still under contract were captain Pat Flatley, who tied for second on the team in points in the 1994– 95 season, and secondary scorers Derek King and Marty McInnis, who were fourth and seventh.
The team could almost bank on more goals from sophomore forwards Brett Lindros and Žiggy Pálffy and another year of solid defense from Scott Lachance, Rich Pilon, Mathieu Schneider, and Dennis Vaske.
Goaltenders Jamie McLennan, Tommy Salo, and Tommy Söderström all had flashes of brilliance the previous season, and maybe somebody from the trio would emerge as a number one. Still, the Islanders did not have the types of stars who sold tickets and merchandise, and a winning season would require more talent than the core of a team that finished with the second- worst record in the NHL. In a twenty- six- team league, the Islanders ended the season nineteenth in goals against and twenty-first in goals scored. During the season, they waived Troy Loney and traded away Benoit Hogue, Vladimir Malakhov, and Pierre Turgeon, who collectively accounted for 21 percent of their goals. Worse, they 77
NEW TEAM, DASHED DREAM
played uninspiringly in the home stretch under Lorne Henning. “In the end, they fell apart,” Mike Milbury said at his introductory press conference. “I don’t know why. There is no question there is good potential in goal. There is a very competent defensive group. As far as the forwards are concerned, I don’t know how it’s all going to shake out, but last year, they clearly didn’t have enough scoring or intensity to make things work.”2
The Islanders had little means to beef up their scoring. Operating on a tight budget the previous summer, general manager Don Maloney offered one of his best players, pending free agent Ray Ferraro, a 19 percent pay cut.3 Ferraro rejected the deal, raised his value by leading the Islanders with twenty- two goals and twenty- one assists in the 1994– 95 season, and signed with the Rangers for an annual salary more than triple Maloney’s offer.4 Meanwhile, the Islanders’
fourth- leading scorer, restricted free agent Steve Thomas, believed Maloney was short- changing him on a new contract. Only two years removed from a forty- two- goal season, Thomas wanted $1.7 million per year, a reasonable bump, but Maloney refused to go higher than $1.5 million. Thomas, the rare scorer who readily engaged in fisticuffs to defend his teammates, was offended. “I’m willing to drop my gloves and fight anybody, and that’s considered a major intangible but it’s not rewarded,” he complained to a reporter.5 The team was also locked in tense negotiations with its de facto number- one center, Kirk Muller, and sparkplug defenseman Darius Kasparaitis.6 The Islanders’ stinginess prevented them from being legitimate players on the free- agent market in the summer of 1995, as much as a superstar would have buoyed the rebrand.
The Islanders were also too complacent with their goaltending.
McLennan, Salo, and Söderström combined for a .891 save percentage, the fourth- worst in the league, with a middling 3.21 goals- against average. The franchise’s supposed goaltender of the future, Éric Fichaud, had an alarming 3.44 goals- against average in juniors, and he had yet to play an NHL game.7 In order for the Islanders to compete in 1995–
96, they could have used a veteran goaltender to back up his younger teammates and serve as a mentor. Opportunity arrived when the Oil-78
NEW TEAM, DASHED DREAM
ers shopped all- star goalie Bill Ranford, who won the 1989– 90 Conn Smythe Trophy as the best player in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Panthers offered John Vanbiesbrouck, winner of the 1985– 86 Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goalie. Both Ranford, twenty- eight, and Vanbiesbrouck, thirty- one, had some of their best seasons ahead of them.8 The Islanders passed on both, probably unwilling to pay their premium salaries.
With little money to entice free agents, the Islanders’ best chance to improve before the season came at the 1995 Entry Draft. Almost immediately after Milbury was introduced as the Islanders’ next coach, he flew with the team’s brain trust to Edmonton, where the draft would be held three days later. By virtue of their poor on- ice performance, the Islanders had three picks in the first two rounds, including the prized second selection. In another departure from the Stanley Cup dynasty, the Islanders pulled the draft duties from their longtime head scout Gerry “Tex” Ehman, who selected many of their championship players in the 1970s.9 Upon Ehman’s demotion the Islander Insider newsletter waxed, “He helped bring us a team the likes of which we’ll never see again. They were the Yankees, Celtics, Notre Dame at their best. They were Ray Robinson, Louis, Ali at their peak.” Ehman was also responsible for bringing on board some of the most promising players on the Islanders’ current roster. However, two high- profile missteps left him vulnerable under the Maloney regime. Handed the second overall pick in 1989, Ehman bypassed future stars Bill Guerin and Bobby Holik in favor of Dave Chyzowski, who scored only fifteen goals in 110 games.
A year later Ehman overlooked Keith Tkachuk and Doug Weight and used the sixth- overall pick on Scott Scissons, who played only three games with the Islanders due to injuries. “Those were two very high picks,” said Maloney, who became general manager in 1992. “I’m not throwing daggers at anybody because it’s just the luck of the draw. But we just can’t do that in the future.” With Ehman shelved, assistant general manager Darcy Regier was put in charge of the 1995 draft.10
When Maloney arrived in Edmonton he had more pressing concerns than draft picks. After many months of negotiations the team had only a few days left to come to terms with its first- round selection from 79
NEW TEAM, DASHED DREAM
1993, twenty- year- old left wing Todd Bertuzzi, or watch him reenter the draft.11 At an imposing six- foot- three and 222 pounds, the feisty Bertuzzi had good hands, a hard shot, and toughness.12 His numbers in juniors were tantalizing: Bertuzzi was coming off a breakout season in which he scored fifty- four goals and sixty- five assists in only 62 games.
In anxious negotiations with the Islanders, Bertuzzi’s agent insisted that his client was among the top three hockey players who had yet to make the NHL, and he was probably right.13 Placing Bertuzzi on a line with Travis Green and Žiggy Pálffy could give the Islanders a formidable trio for at least a few years until they hit free agency, but both sides were stubborn. The Islanders had until midnight before the draft to strike a deal with Bertuzzi, and they were not even talking at 10:30 p.m. “At 11 o’clock, we thought nothing was going to happen,”
Bertuzzi said. “At 11:30, we still didn’t have a deal,” added Maloney.
Eventually, they understood they needed each other. Losing a top prospect would have been embarrassing for Maloney, and the new collective bargaining agreement meant that Bertuzzi would make less money if he reentered the draft. With minutes to spare the sides reached an agreement and rushed to the NHL’s makeshift office in a nearby hotel to submit the paperwork by the deadline. The contract paid $4.6 million over four years.14
Milbury, who had just struck his own deal with Maloney, spent the draft filling out his coaching staff. Milbury was a hard- driving coach, and he wanted gentler voices to balance the bench. He decided to retain Bob Froese, the goaltending coach under Henning, and hired Guy Charron, an assistant coach for five seasons with the Flames, as his right- hand man. A star center in the 1970s, Charron was tired of being passed over for the head- coaching job in Calgary, so he quit and drove three hours north to Edmonton in hopes of landing with a new team at the draft. Milbury was one of the few people to meet with him. “I knew of Mike’s reputation and career and he’d had success as a coach with the Bruins and those kind of things,” Charron said.
“But I have to be sincere by just saying mostly it was an opportunity for me to work and not having to look. Sometimes there’s a sense of insecurity, and I guess I had a sense of insecurity.”15
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NEW TEAM, DASHED DREAM
While most assistants called out line changes, Milbury liked to handle the entire bench himself, rotating forwards and defensemen on and off the ice. Charron would be involved in power plays and penalty kills, but he anticipated playing a more important role as a mediator. Milbury expected the Islanders to play as physically as the Bruins of the 1970s and 1980s, while many of his European and Russian players had been trained to skate smoothly and score with finesse. Even North Americans on the Islanders’ roster would bristle at attempts to be molded into the image of a coach who averaged four goals per season and never made an all- star team. “Let’s face it, without being harsh about his career, he was a hard- nosed type of guy,” Charron said. “He played the game hard. He played the game like Boston Bruin identity. He liked that from a player.” Given Milbury’s reputation in Boston, his assistants knew they would be expected to reassure players after Milbury screamed, issued challenges, and ran them through demanding practices. “That’s what I considered a big part of my role, not so much as a mediator, but as someone who was going to encourage the guys,” Froese said.
“And it’s tough. It’s a big man’s game, big boy’s game, big cities, fans that want to win, but nobody wants to go out there and make a fool of themselves.”16
At the moment Maloney feared embarrassing himself at the draft. He faced a tough decision with the second overall pick. While the Islanders needed scoring, the best players available were a trio of defensemen.
Maloney had the chance to package the second pick in a trade for a proven NHL scorer such as Teemu Selanne or Alexei Yashin, both of whom would have added much- needed star power, or select one of the top forwards in the draft, such as future all- stars Shane Doan or Jarome Iginla. Instead, the Islanders followed conventional wisdom and took eighteen- year- old Canadian defenseman Wade Redden, a strong skater with poise, speed, and a smooth stride. Redden was offensively minded, but he was unlikely to make an immediate impact, and his fourteen goals and forty- six assists in juniors paled against the production that Doan and Iginla could have provided. In the second round Maloney chose Jan Hlaváč, a two- way forward from the Czech 81
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