Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Gordon In as Coach

Multiple sources:

Islanders have hired Scott Gordon to replace Ted Nolan as coach.

Good move by Snow, and really a good summer in my opinion. Gordon is a defense first coach, which is a good thing because we're not sure where the scoring will come from, and our defense, when healthy, can compete with anybody. We also have DP.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Success Stories?

I would like to explain why i would say that those coaches were successes.

For Laviolette, and Sterling: Both picked by Milbury, however, at the wrong time. We had just received an infusion of veterans from that draft with Aucoin, Peca, and Yashin, amongst others. If I really wanted to win for the now, i would've gone with a more experienced coach that would have handled Laviolettes' and Sterlings' second seasons differently. The fact that two "AHL" coaches were able to take that team to the playoffs, with that veteran core, in my opinion, is a success. Their lack of NHL coaching experience in terms of holding the team together, led to their firings their next years, again in my opinion.

Nolan: was hired at the right time, and took them into the playoffs the first year. But as the Islanders realized last summer, they weren't going to get better experienced players, they needed to get younger and build a team from scratch. Nolan didn't want that, which brings us today.

I believe that the next coach will be starting to develop and mentoring more this year than actually coaching. As the team grows, so will the coach. Good time for Gordon. Read a lot about him, and I'll comment on him later.

Coaching Search Continues

I think all Snow is really looking for is stability, and a clear view and destination for this organization that the new coach will buy into, and follow. Let's review for a moment:

Laviolette, and Sterling: Both AHL coaches before coming to the Islanders, and both took their teams to at least one playoff birth. I call that success.

Nolan: former NHL coach of the year, and a 10 year absence: Playoffs once.

Now, the remaining three candidates:

Hartley, Maurice: have the capacity to coach a team to compete/win a Stanley Cup.

Scott Gordon, could be the next Laviolette.

When we get the talent for any of these coaches, I'll bet they'll do their job.

What Garth needs to figure out is which one will be more loyal to his vision, and philosophy.