The Islanders must be attracting the perfect and brightest candidates for the vacancies within the government suite. Perhaps they’re, and perhaps that’s the method unfolding behind closed doorways.
However within the few weeks since parting methods with Lou Lamoriello — who oddly stays on the franchise listing listed as president, basic supervisor and alternate governor — plainly we’ve seen or heard a couple of parade of recyclables vying for the job. Not terribly inspiring.
Marc Bergevin, actually?
However we’re unsure whether or not the Scott Malkin-Jon Ledecky possession represented by proxy John Collins — listed on the listing as co-owner, working associate and alternate governor — is in search of to rent one man to run the operation, who will then rent the final supervisor, who will then make the choice on head coach Patrick Roy and his employees who’ve been left in limbo?
Or maybe Collins will pull a Dick Cheney and can in the end determine himself as the perfect individual to imagine the presidency whereas he seems just for the person who will run the day-to-day hockey operation as a conventional basic supervisor.
There’s a shared notion all through the trade that modernizing the operation after Lamoriello’s singular presence the previous seven years goes to be a large job. There’s a perception that that is scaring candidates away.
I don’t fairly get it. The following president or GM may have the chance to create the Islanders hockey division in his (or her) personal picture. That is an possession that has been supportive from Day 1. This can be a fan base, lord is aware of, that has had a long time of apply at being affected person.
The Islanders collected a reservoir of fine will off their draft lottery victory, which is able to permit the incoming GM to direct the hockey dialog for the subsequent seven weeks. This particular person will inherit a clean canvas. If there may be the notion that this can be a large job; there isn’t any query that that is going to be an enormous choose.
Is there a continued promise of independence between hockey ops and possession? As a result of this must be a hockey choose, not a public relations choose. This isn’t a time — it’s by no means a time — to pick out the equal of Hugh Jessiman as a result of he roots on your group.
This isn’t the time for possession to exert any affect tied to branding and advertising in terms of James Hagens, the Lengthy Island born-and-bred sophomore middle from Boston School — who is usually rated between third and seventh on the rankings, and a certain or two away from top-ranked defenseman Matthew Schaefer, who hails from Ontario.
Once more, we now have heard in regards to the standard suspects and about reluctant candidates corresponding to Jeff Gorton, who apparently by no means utilized. It appears that there’s the identical small circle of oldsters who could be in line for this job as for head-coaching positions.
It’s a wheel, no, it’s a carousel.
A few weeks in the past I had been advised by a well-connected fellow to not be shocked if Jon Cooper — with one 12 months remaining on his contract — stepped down as coach of Tampa Bay to take over the operation in Utah for his buddy and Mammoth proprietor Ryan Smyth. I didn’t imply as coach.
However within the interim after the Lightning’s third straight first-round elimination (and second straight to Florida in 5 video games), Cooper dedicated to returning behind the bench for the ultimate 12 months of his deal.
However I ponder if the 57-year-old could be serious about broadening his horizons. I ponder what he would do if given the keys to the chief suite at UBS, which is simply over 10 miles away from the campus of Hofstra College, from which Cooper graduated in 1989 with a level in enterprise administration.
Cooper has two Stanley Cups and a 4 Nations championship. He’ll coach Staff Canada within the 2026 Olympics. There are few worlds for the bench-boss Cooper to overcome, although Gold in Italy is a major goal.
Rebuilding the Islanders — constructing the Islanders in his personal picture — would possibly enchantment to Cooper’s sense of journey. It’d enchantment to his ego. The narrative of coming again residence in spite of everything these a long time to avoid wasting the beloved and perennially battered franchise is perhaps too tantalizing to withstand.
Malkin, Ledecky and Collins — and perhaps Lamoriello, if he’s nonetheless on the letterhead — might do worse by really asking for permission to speak to Cooper.
The Islanders deserve the perfect and brightest.
