Mike Milbury, former GM of the NY Islanders has stepped time as full-time senior vice-president of sports properties for the team.
Team owner Charles Wang had this to say about Milbury:
"Mike played a major role in getting the Islanders back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs three years in a row. Before I purchased the franchise and provided Mike with the stability and resources he never had in his early tenure, the Islanders were out of the playoffs for almost a decade. Worse than that, most years they didn't even have a chance when the season started. It was Mike who made the aggressive moves that put the Islanders back on the NHL map. Mike is also responsible for the Islanders careers of some of our fan favorites, including Rick DiPietro, Jason Blake and Trent Hunter, among many others."
TSN.CA also pointed out Milbury “worked under four ownership groups with the Islanders and hired six coaches - he coached the team on two occasions.”
Milbury did face some difficult working conditions prior to Wang taking over the team, as he was often handcuffed financially and forced to dump some of his higher-paid players, but most Isles fans will remember the wild trades usually involving then-promising youngsters that earned him the nickname of “Mad Mike”.
What might the roster of the NY Islanders look like today if Milbury kept most of the draft picks who went on to become stars on other clubs?
Only a handful of teams drafted better than Milbury from 1995 to 2000. Part of that was due to years of missing the playoffs and thus securing very high first round picks, but he showed a knack for drafting well regardless of where they were picking. He also acquired some good players from some of his trades.
Were it not for a series of owners who skimped on payroll and some outright dumb trades by Milbury, there might be a second dynasty on Long Island today. Consider the following roster:
Goal: Roberto Luongo, Defence: Bryan McCabe, Wade Redden, Zdeno Chara and Eric Brewer. Forwards: Olli Jokinen, JP Dumont, Todd Bertuzzi, Jason Spezza (selected by Ottawa with the first round pick moved by Milbury for Alexei Yashin), Tim Connolly, Taylor Pyatt, Raffi Torres, Michael Rupp.
He also passed up the chance to draft either Dany Heatley or Marian Gaborik in 2000 to select Rick DiPietro, which wouldn’t have been necessary if he’d held onto Luongo.
Almost all of those players were moved, not because they were expensive to retain since almost all of them were just young, affordable players back then, but because Milbury just couldn’t resist making deals.
Milbury meant well, but his moving of promising young assets in wild trades ultimately stunted the development of the Islanders thus preventing it from truly flourishing into a Cup contender once Wang took over the team. If he’d retained just half of those aforementioned players he traded away, the Islanders today might’ve been a Cup contender.
Instead, the Isles have been a marginal playoff team, saddled with the bloated contract of a fading Alexei Yashin, risking losing Jason Blake to free agency, and no closer to their glory days than they were during the dark days of the late 1990s.
Ultimately, Milbury’s legacy is what might’ve been.
Very well done, Spector. This post caught my eye because I remember an article I read in SI about Milbury when he was a teenager playing with the Bruins (circa 1980). Or am I thinking of someone else? Dang, I'll have to go look it up now.
All trades, and drafts for that matter, are best seen using hindsight. Problem is, those making those decisions don't have that luxury. Just curious-how many of these moves did you agree with at the time?
I understood why he dealt away guys like Palffy for financial reasons in the late 90s as the owners then weren't willing to give him the money he needed to retain them, but most of those players noted above weren't moved for financial reasons but rather for quick fixes, and I was against most of them at the time.
Admittedly, I was for the acquisition of Linden, which cost him Bertuzzi and McCabe, because I felt he'd bring that predominantly young team some much needed leadership and experience.
Most of those moves smacked of desperation and poor decision making, Milbury was gutting his future for a quick fix.
The Luongo trade with Florida was the worst. There was no good reason for that trade. Milbury just wanted that first overall pick because he was enamoured with DiPietro and wanted to land him. No offence to DiPietro, but Luongo was and still is the better goalie.
Even if he'd made all the other trades, if he'd retained Luongo and drafted either Heatley or Gaborik, the Isles would've been a much better team today. There was no hindsight in the criticism of that move back then by myself or other pundits and hockey fans. That's what earned him the nickname "Mad Mike".
Great topic, Spector. It's a prime example of why I like to visit this site so often.
For Islander fans, reading this must be like tearing open an old scab. The Mike Milbury Story should be required reading for all new GMs as a cautionary tale of how the trade deadline can turn you into your own worst enemy.
Mike Milbury, referring to that imfamous December 1979 fight in the stands at MSG, said "It’s unbelievable that after more than 30 years in the game, pummeling a guy with his loafer will be my legacy. But I guess it's better than having no legacy at all."
Milbury seemed to stir every pot found within easy reach. His post playing career as a coach started out so promising with a President's Trophy and a trip to the Stanley Cup Final. But then next year he was the coach placing enforcers and checkers on his All-Star Game team, which forced changes in how the NHL selected All-Stars.
As a GM with limited resources on Long Island, I don't begrudge him for flipping expensive talent that ownership could no longer afford. (I watched the same story for more than a decade in Edmonton; I understand better than most.) But he moved a lot of the young talent too, never giving them a chance to mature, and therein was the madness.
In painting, you reach a point where you have to lift the brush and say "I'm done" because anything else detracts from the work. Until the end, Milbury worked in abstract, over-painting the bold colours he'd laid down before with even bolder colours of the moment. The work was not improved, and what remained beneath the extra oil was likely superior to the final result.
Finally, the nightmare cloud of Mad Mike lifts over the faithful at the Nassau Mausoleum. Will the curse finally be over Isles fans?
I think Mike should hit the ground falling and write one of those dummies books. "NHL GM for dummies" or a "Complete ####'s guide to NHL GM"
If he had only drafted Heatley, and kept Loungo, the Isles would be in much better shape today and Isles fans could at least forgive him for his other blunders.
As a Devils fan, I got a lot of laughs in watching Mad Mike ruin a once great franchise. My hope is that he somehow manages at some point to become the GM of the Rangers. Hey now, aren't they looking for an assistant GM? ;0)
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
