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Bad time to be an Islander

Fans unleash frustration on team owner, GM Milbury

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Posted: Monday April 12, 1999 05:47 PM

If it wasn't bad enough that the National Football League turned its back on Howard Milstein, he also had to hear it from "fans" of his National Hockey League team.

Saturday, April 10 was Fan Appreciation Night in Nassau Coliseum, and the fans let it be known that they didn't appreciate ownership.

One banner read, "Milstein: The NFL Wanted You About as Much as We Did." There were chants of, "Milstein and Milbury [general manager Mike] must go," and some derogatory chants aimed at the team as well.

Islanders fans have been upset for years about the state of their team and this season was no different. The club was a woeful 11-23-7 at home this season, a season that started with ownership trying to break the lease on the Coliseum by claiming that the building was unsafe. The losing numbers were awful even by Islanders' expansion-days standards. One of the worst expansion teams ever, the Islanders of 1972-73 were 10-25-4. Nearly 30 years and four Stanley Cups later, the once proud franchise was able to win just one more home game than that rag-tag bunch.

From the There's-Always-Hope department comes word that the Islanders did sign Hobey Baker Award winner Jason Krog to a two-year deal plus incentives. The base number is said to be just under $2 million.

Beantown hubbub

The Boston Bruins made a nice run to clinch a playoff spot, but all is not peace, love and understanding in The Hub these days. Coach Pat Burns and assistant general manager Mike O'Connell have been having a very public feud about how Burns, the reigning NHL coach of the year, is handling ice time for second-year forward Sergei Samsonov.

O'Connell recently publicly questioned the amount of playing time Samsonov had received so far this season, and went so far as to suggest that the winger's offensive numbers might have been greater if he played a bit more.

Burns was livid over the remarks and took them to mean O'Connell was second-guessing his coaching. The two reportedly had a heated exchange over the issue, but have since moved to patch things up.

Publicly, that's been done, but Burns is said to still be seething. Since O'Connell is heir apparent to president and general manager Harry Sinden and figures to be Burns' ultimate boss someday, this feud bears watching.

Jagr's break more mental than physical

Strange how just days after word of Jaromir Jagr's rip job on coach Kevin Constantine surfaced, Jagr came down with a "mild" groin strain.

No doubt Jagr needed some rest, but the timing is such that it has a lot of Penguins watchers wondering if general manager Craig Patrick didn't force the cooling off period.

Jagr and Constantine had a lengthy closed-door meeting immediately after the Penguins' loss to Buffalo last week. Both pretty much dodged the issue of Jagr mouthing off about Constantine's coaching ability in a Czech Republic newspaper, but there's definitely tension between the two men and a cooling off period might be important for Jagr mentally as well as physically.

Team spokesman Tom McMillan acknowledged the injury to Jagr was mild and said that Jagr opted to rest rather than risk more serious injury with the playoffs only a few regular-season games away.

"You just don't push it this time of the year," McMillan said.

Since when? Jagr is attempting to nail down his first Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player. A strong finish coming while the ballots are just reaching the hands of the voters would be a definite help to his chances. It's not a given that Jagr wins this thing as both Ottawa's Alexei Yashin and Anaheim's Temmu Selanne and Paul Kariya are closing strong. Buffalo's Dominik Hasek is also still in the picture.

In addition, the Penguins still have a realistic shot at moving up in the Eastern Conference playoff standings. Fourth and home ice might be out of the question, but sixth and a first-round meeting with Carolina is a very realistic goal. For most low-rung teams -- including the Penguins -- avoiding Ottawa or New Jersey in the first round is a reasonable strategy.

This is not the time for Jagr to not "push it."

Muckler may feel Rangers' ax

New York Rangers coach John Muckler didn't waste anytime going on the offensive after his team was eliminated from the playoff race for the second time in his two seasons there.

Muckler said "There has to be people added. We have to improve up front and we have to improve behind the blue line."

True, true and very true, but the Rangers should have been better than their record, especially the 16-18-5 mark at home. The Rangers garnered a mere 37 points there. They also went 0-4 against the Montreal Canadiens, another team that didn't make the playoffs and were 0-3-1 against the Sabres, a team that has owned the Rangers since Muckler arrived in New York.

To his credit, Muckler tipped his hat to both the Sabres and the Canadiens saying "the biggest disappointment to me this year was losing that game to Boston [a pivotal defeat in which the Rangers three-times surrendered a lead at home] and not being able to beat Montreal or Buffalo. We didn't have the stamina, endurance or depth on our hockey club to get the eighth spot. We were close; we made a run several times, but we could never get there."

You wouldn't know it from the $44-plus million dollar payroll, however, and that's not going to sit well in the MSG front office. It's likely someone will have to pay a price for the Rangers' failure to pad the corporate bottom line two years in a row. General manager Neil Smith has already given Muckler a vote of confidence, but Smith has no guarantees. He will be given a close look himself and if he is able to escape ownership's' wrath, the firing gun could well be pointed at Muckler.

It's not fair and it's not necessarily right, but that's the way of the world in corporate sports and no place on earth is more corporate than MSG.

Look for scapegoats in Montreal

It isn't any prettier in Montreal, where fans are bemoaning the fact the Canadiens are out of the playoffs while so many former Canadiens are playing well for other teams throughout the NHL.

Some examples:

Goaltenders -- Patrick Roy , Ron Tugnutt.

Defensemen -- Chris Chelios, Eric Desjardins, Lyle Odelein, Donald Brasheer, Peter Svoboda, Jykri Lumme.

Forwards -- John LeClair, Pierre Turgeon, Vincent Damphousse, Claude Lemieux, Guy Carbonneau, Mike Keane, Darcy Tucker, Craig Conroy, Mark Recchi, Stephane Richer.

Bad trades have become standard fare in Montreal, but the drafting is poor too. Once the envy of the NHL, the Canadiens have been slow to react to changes in the talent pool, especially in looking to Europe.

Missing the playoffs is an occasional occupational hazard for most teams. It's a death blow in Montreal. Look for changes at the top, maybe reaching as high as team President Ron Corey. If not Corey, then either general manager Rejean Houle or coach Alain Vigneault. The coach is the person least responsible for the current mess in Montreal, but he could well be what management offers up to appease the disenchanted fans.

Warring Pens owners

Pittsburgh co-owner Roger Marino is suing partner Howard Baldwin to pay half of the $2.5 million claimed last year by team lenders.

Marino who is also attempting to keep former player Mario Lemieux from getting control of the team in bankruptcy proceedings, filed a civil suit in Pittsburgh to try to force Baldwin to pay $1.2 million.

Senior lenders made the claim when the Penguins allegedly defaulted on some loan payments. The Penguins have denied the default.

Flames' Smith escapes deadly injury

The Calgary Flames are worried about veteran defenseman Steve Smith. Smith last week suffered a slice along the side of his throat. The skate blade just missed the jugular vein and caused him to lose all feeling on the right side of his head. He had some microsurgery done on the nerves in the area of the wound and expects to get feeling back in that side of his head in about a year.

"Right now I can't feel my ear," he said. "I can't feel anything. They actually took the nerve and pulled it back together and repaired it."

Smith said at first that he didn't even know he was cut.

Hawks' Molleken has Savard's blessing

As we mentioned in this space awhile back, the Chicago Blackhawks did indeed award Lorne Molleken for the crawl to the finish by lifting the interim label and making him head coach for next season and two years after that. The price, said to be $400,000 per.

Put aside those thoughts of a possible conflict between the new coach and assistant -- and fan favorite -- Denis Savard. Savard is one of Molleken's biggest boosters and admires the way he handles himself and his players.

"I've had a lot of great coaches," Savard said. "But this guy communicates like no one else."

In other Chicago news, Doug Gilmour, the $6 million man, underwent surgery to repair a bulging disc in his lower back. Gilmour will need six to eight weeks for rehabilitation but does plan to return next season.

Around the Rinks: The Colorado Avalanche is worried about forward Adam Deadmarsh's availability. Deadmarsh has missed games because of blurred vision in his left eye, a problem that arose after a fight with Edmonton's Jason Smith ... Mats Sundin was rendered invisible in the recent hone-and-home series between the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Sens trapped Sundin to death and likely will do it again if the two teams meet in the playoffs somewhere down the road ... Toronto coach Pat Quinn recently picked up his 400th win. "I won't get excited about it until I catch Scotty Bowman," Quinn deadpanned. Bowman is at 1,099 and counting ... Tampa Bay's Jacques Demers recently became one of only five coaches to coach 1,000 games. "It's an honor just to have lasted," said Demers ...

More Around the Rinks: The Mighty Ducks are making a pitch for forward Steve Kariya, a standout performer at the University of Maine this season and the brother of Mighty Ducks star Paul Kariya. However Vancouver and several other clubs are said to be readying an offer for the free agent ... Two of the older buildings in the NHL -- The Great Western Forum in Los Angeles and the McNichols arena are preparing for their last regular season hockey games. The Kings will host St. Louis on Sunday and then look forward to the new Staples Arena in LA. The Avalanche close with the Dallas Stars on the same day. The Avs will move to the Pepsi Center next fall. It's a different story for Carolina. The Hurricanes still have no assurances that their new home in Raleigh will be open by September next season. There is some thought that the Hurricanes will have to return to Greensboro for the opening portion of the home season or play a slew of games on the road.

Jim Kelley covers the NHL -- and the Sabres -- for the Buffalo News. His notebook appears weekly on CNN/SI.com.

 

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