Monday, July 14, 2008

The Divorce is Now Final

ESPN

If all mommy and daddy do is fight, they probably should find other people. That's about the best way to describe the relationship between Garth Snow and Ted Nolan in the past few months. It was really, really obvious that they weren't seeing eye to eye and today they finally made the divorce final.

Ted Nolan has been let go and the Islanders will be searching for their eighth coach in the new millennium (including interims). Regardless of whether you think Nolan is mommy or daddy in this example, that's a lot of coaches. Nolan also leaves as another mildly successful coach on Long Island. He marks the fourth straight Islanders coach to vacate his position with a .500 or better winning percentage. There's also no doubt he did got much more out of his teams than anyone expected. In the end, he couldn't get along with GM Garth Snow, who didn't get to select his own coach upon taking his post.

Who is to blame for the rift in the relationship is unknown but neither party is going to look good because of it. Nolan, again, will likely be labeled as a coach who can't get along with the front office. That stigma kept him out of the NHL for nearly a decade. For Snow and the Islanders, it may only be considered another front office meltdown in an office that has been filled with them. First it was Neil Smith and then Pat LaFontaine. Now it's Snow and Nolan. What coach is going to want to sign up for this revolving door?

Milbury's not in charge anymore. The ownership is good and most importantly, stable. Nonetheless, the Islanders are again missing a solid leader at the helm. They're still looking for the next Al Arbour. Some things never change.

4 comments:

  1. The ownership isn't good. Its dysfunctional. Charles Wang is involved in too many of the decisions and when his qualified GM Neil Smith couldn't work in that zoo, he brought in his backup goalie (Garth Snow) to do the job. Snow would let Wang be involved in decisions where he shouldn't be using Snow as a puppet. The Isles are being run into the ground. Nolan was fired because he pointed that out too often.

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  2. Don't want to give you a heart attack Kevin but I am willing to bet Snow will be the coach before too long. Long live the Knicks of the NHL!

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  3. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I think we're still a long way from Isiah Status. Right? Right???

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  4. Wang is just crazy enough to possibly do this. The NHLs has had some GM's step in from time to time in NJ and Ottawa so its not that far-fetched on the Island. Still if that happens, hide the interns as Snow will hire Starbury as assistant coach. You heard it here first!

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