June 07, 2006

Good call on their part. This guy knows hockey and was building teams (Buffalo) for speed when speed wasn't the norm. I have a feeling he will build a pretty good team there and do quite well.

posted by Stealth_72 at 06:35 AM on June 08, 2006

Yeah, qbert gets credit for calling this, but Spofi has been all over this story (and pulling for all parties involved to close the deal) for months. This is great news. Good on Ted Nolan, who's waited a decade for this, good on the Islanders and Charles Wang for making this happen, good on Neil Smith, who is a great piece of the puzzle (whatever gets Mike Milbury out of the decision making process is a good thing). Between them and the addition of Bryan Trottier & Pat Lafontaine in development roles, this is a great PR move as well as a solid hockey choice. (Hey HATER, wanna catch a game or two next season?) Now, if they can figure out what to do with Yashin, this team could be alarmingly better as early as next year.

posted by chicobangs at 02:20 PM on June 08, 2006

I love these moves by the Islanders. Wang admitted he had zero hockey knowledge coming into his ownership but still took a very hands approach to running the team. He went out and found some of the most knowledgeable people in hockey and I think the effects will be seen almost immediatley. Smith knows how to build a winner, Nolan is so obviously the best coach not in the NHL and Long Islanders are somewhat obligied to orally satisfy Pat Lafontiane upon site. Now that managment has been fixed what do with the personel problems? Yashin needs to be taken Ol' Yeller style and the defense's average is something like 17 and I believe DiP is still unsigned. Neil gots a lot work to do this summer. Chico I will definately be a regular at the colliseum (just I word of caution I wear my colours at games so if you can stand the heckeling I'm game)

posted by HATER 187 at 07:57 PM on June 08, 2006