The team that fired Peter Laviolette five years is looking for a coach again.
It's hard to do the math because of Al Arbour's guest appearance last year, but I think that Ted Nolan's exit marks the New York Islanders' 13th coaching change since Arbour's original farewell in 1986.
Thirteen changes in 22 years (15 if you pretend that Saint Arbour actually replaced Nolan as interim coach last year) is a pretty good indication of an organization that has some organizational issues.
Laviolette proved that point by winning the Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes just two years after getting kicked out of the Islanders' toxic dump.
The Islanders made a bold move when they brought Nolan out of exile two years ago. Only time will tell if they made a dumb one by sending him back.
Comments (6)
List of coaches for The Rangers in the last 22 years:
Herb Brooks and Craig Patrick 1984–85
Ted Sator 1985–86
Ted Sator and Tom Webster and Phil Esposito 1986–87
Michel Bergeron 1987–88
Michel Bergeron and Phil Esposito 1988–89
Roger Neilson 1989–92
Roger Neilson and Ron Smith 1992–93
Mike Keenan 1993–94
Colin Campbell 1994–97
Colin Campbell and John Muckler 1997–98
John Muckler 1998–99
John Muckler and John Tortorella 1999–00
Ron Low 2000–02
Bryan Trottier and Glen Sather 2002–03
Glen Sather and Tom Renney 2003–04
Tom Renney 2004-
If the Islanders are a toxic dump, does that make the Rangers a Superfund cleanup site? Or is that too good for them, and we'll go with Chernobyl?
I honestly don't mind the criticism of this move, since Nolan was a great coach regardless of his fit on the current team. I disagree with the utter lack of balance and the hostility that is only bred by losing and broken promises. Maybe this was a good move, and maybe it wasn't, but the Islanders are 1 of 30 seats on the round-and-round NHL carousel.
Ouch, my math was a tad off - that is the list from the past 24 years.
A little more history:
Ottawa has made 8 changes in its 16-year existence
When the Kings hire their next coach (Nolan?), it will be their 11th change in 22 years.
The Panthers have existed for 15 years and made 9 changes.
Here's a good one - the DEVILS have made 14 changes in the last 22 years, and won 3 cups in the process.
Coaches and managers are hired to be fired. Some of the Islanders' changes are a result of Mike Milbury's impetuousness, but some of them result from the nature of the job. Frequent coaching changes are par for the course - hell, how many managers did the Red Sox have during Joe Torre's tenure with the Yankees?
Stop drinking Haterade. Or is that what the new management has restocked the Newsday pantry with?
Every team hires and fires coaches like this. Because the Islanders made an inflammatory (but necessary) move, their coaching changes should be highlighted without any sort of mention to the above fact already stated?
I knew this blog entry was useless when I saw the giant fisherman logo at the top, which has not been the team logo in over 10 years. Nice research, guys. In other news, man has landed on the moon.
Omigosh, when? Was it made of green cheese?