good and bad news for the Isles

brooklynhabfan · Guru

good and bad news for the Isles

barry33 · Guru

Boy would I have loved to see Teddy Nolan behind the Habs bench. I had the opportunity to watch him alot this past winter in the QMJHL and this guy knows the game. But hey, we have Carbo and his errr..his....errr...vast experience as a coach.

Peart_2112 · Veteran Member

I still wonder who Ted pissed off in the league to be banished to the minors for as long as he was......10 years wasn't it? I mean the guy did an awesome job in Buffalo and then *Poof* he was gone and no other team would touch him. I for one am glad to see him back behind the bench but he sure would have looked alot better standing back there with Carbo in Montreal instead of on Long Island.

barry33 · Guru

Peart_2112 wrote:

I still wonder who Ted pissed off in the league to be banished to the minors for as long as he was......10 years wasn't it? I mean the guy did an awesome job in Buffalo and then *Poof* he was gone and no other team would touch him. I for one am glad to see him back behind the bench but he sure would have looked alot better standing back there with Carbo in Montreal instead of on Long Island.

The really bad news is that the Isles are in our division. I believe that hiring Ted Nolan will automatically place them in a playoff position..it is just a matter of where they finish. Just one more team the habs will have to fight for the 5-8th spot next season.

wright · Veteran Member

barry33 wrote:

Peart_2112 wrote: I still wonder who Ted pissed off in the league to be banished to the minors for as long as he was......10 years wasn't it? I mean the guy did an awesome job in Buffalo and then *Poof* he was gone and no other team would touch him. I for one am glad to see him back behind the bench but he sure would have looked alot better standing back there with Carbo in Montreal instead of on Long Island. The really bad news is that the Isles are in our division. I believe that hiring Ted Nolan will automatically place them in a playoff position..it is just a matter of where they finish. Just one more team the habs will have to fight for the 5-8th spot next season.

Nolan is very good, but he is no miracle worker. Have you seen the Islander's defence: Zitnik and then pray for rain. The likes of Gervais,Grebeshov are not exactly NHL material. The Islanders also have one of the best coach killers in the game: Yashin. The Islanders with Nolan will be better, but they have a lot of holes to fill. The Thrashers, Leafs, Panthers, and even the Penguins have better opportunities to contend for the playoffs than the Islanders. Unless Smith suddenly finds some takers for the likes of Satan, and Yashin that eat up a tremendous amount of cap space it's hard to see the team upgrading their personnel to a point where Nolan can get them into the playoffs. Nolan will squeeze maxium capabilities out of what he has but don't think it will be enough for them to be a legit playoff contender.

Jay1982 · Guru

Ted Nolan spoke out against his one time Buffalo GM, who now happens to be GM of Ottawa. He was banished due to a clique that exsists among NHL GMs. I'm very happy for Nolan, its about time he gets back into things in the NHL

beakermania · Senior Member

Exactly wright. The one team in the worst position this off-season is the Isles. No cap room, not many good young prospects on the horizon. Bad defence. The money they have spent has been unwise (Satan, Yashin).

Even awful teams like St.Louis, Pittsburgh, Washington, have a lot more hope for them on the horizon than the Isles right now.

Milbury took that team and put it right down the gutter. You could easily make a stanley cup contender with guys hes traded away.

Chara, Bertuzzi, Peca, Jokinen, Luongo, Dany Heatley, Spezza, McCabe, Torres, just off the top of my head, and i know there are plenty more who could make a very solid lineup.

beakermania · Senior Member

As far as Nolan being blackballed, I heard it had something to do with an affair between Ted Nolan and his star player's (Dominick Hasek) wife at the time.

brooklynhabfan · Guru

beakermania wrote:

As far as Nolan being blackballed, I heard it had something to do with an affair between Ted Nolan and his star player's (Dominick Hasek) wife at the time.

Hmmm. never heard that one, but makes for juicy TV (anyone see footballers' wives?)

Nolan and Muckler were always fighting cat and dog, mostly over personnel issues. Johnny wanted finesse, Ted wanted brawn. Muckler got squeezed out after a public fight , and with the help of Hasek (who never liked Nolan because of a lack of "system", and felt like his play was the key to Nolan's success), the Sabres over-achieved.

This is what got him "blackballed":

After getting the Jack Adams, he was offered a contract extension for a year, but wanted more years and more money. Having only coached at NHL level for 2 years, he was turned down. He laughed and walked, thinking that there would be a thousand offers waiting for him. (Sort of like George Lazenby, the one-hit-wonder James Bond)

Now here's what really nailed the coffin. Phil Espo offered him the Tampa job, and was rejected by Ted, for what was perceived to be an attitude that the Lightning weren't a good enough team for him to coach.

So to round it up

1. He spat in the face of a guy who made him in the NHL to begin with (I would spit in Muckler's face for what he did to Manny Malhotra when he coached the Rangers). Muckler had given him the job when he had no experience. Nolan's attitude toward him was seen as unloyal, especially when it came down to getting Muckler fired. Again, I would have probably hated Muckler, too, but that's me.

2. He got too big for his britches. Instead of realizing he had a good start, and could build a career off of it, he thought he was Scotty Bowman. But he wasn't.

3. His system consisted of "Pump up the heart and dig the shoulder in". While this is great if you have a layabout team (hello Isles?) it's not a big seller in GM land, where jackasses like Mike Keenan never go long without work, because they have a patented and specific "style" they bring with them.

Personally, I think it was less "Blackballing" and more "Why take a chance on an inexperienced troublemaker". In an industry with less employees than the plant that makes McDonalds fries, you don't really need cliques for word to get around.

I like Ted because he's just my kind of guy, but with that broken Mitsubishi minivan of a team in front of him, don't be surprised if he's back in Moncton before the end of the year...

It's just ironic that he'll be working with Smith...