Failure™ Magazine

Mike Milbury’s New York Islanders

Seven years of futility on Long Island — and why the team is poised to win again.

Written by Jason Zasky   Filed under Sports

All the while, the Islanders have continued to stock their roster with young talent, led by the aforementioned Isbister (age 23), Connolly (19), and Pyatt (19), plus Mark Parrish (23) and Oleg Kvasha (22), and defensemen Zdeno Chara (23), Roman Hamrlik (26), and Branislav Mezei (20).

Watching the Islanders practice it’s evident how green the team is as a whole. The youngest players need to learn how to practice, how to prepare for an opponent, how to treat people around the arena, even the fundamentals of the game. “[Head coach] Butch [Goring] said the other day he’s never spent so much time as a coach actually teaching,” notes Cerny.

The big X factor in the Islanders future is goalie Rick DiPietro (the #1 overall pick in the 2000 draft), who the team earned the right to select via a blockbuster draft day deal that sent prize goaltending prospect Roberto Luongo to the Florida Panthers. “I think Milbury believes that DiPietro is going to be the goalie for the next 10-12 years,” says Cerny. And what if he isn’t the answer? “Big trouble for the organization and personally for Mike Milbury. He has staked his entire future on Rick,” continues Cerny.

Certainly, Mike Milbury’s future has been a continued source of speculation in the media. Even if he hasn’t been given a fair shake, it may be difficult for the new owners to keep him on from a public relations standpoint. However, it’s unlikely he will be dismissed until at least the end of the season (if at all), for no other reason than Kumar and Wang are hockey novices. “I don’t think they feel confident in coming up with a replacement,” says Cerny.“The [new] owners know it’s tough to ask the fans for more patience, but they need a little more time too. They’re not going to just come and in and up the payroll by $20 million and throw all this money at one player.”

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