Islanders General Manager Mike Milbury, a brash, unconventional and impetuous executive widely known as "Mad Mike," made his eighth coaching change in 10 years Thursday. Then he fired himself.
After the Islanders' owner, Charles Wang, announced at a news conference that Coach Steve Stirling had been fired after a 124-game tenure, Wang said Milbury had resigned as the general manager and would become a senior vice president for Wang's sports properties.
"I'm not ready for the funny farm, and I'm not ready to retire," Milbury said. "There's a lot of work with this."
PHOTO: AP
Wang also owns the New York Dragons of the Arena Football League, the Islanders' top minor-league affiliate in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and the team's practice facility in Syosset, New York. He said Milbury would remain the general manager until his replacement was found.
But Wang added that he hoped to have a new general manager by the NHL draft in June and that Brad Shaw, 41, who joined Stirling's staff this season as an assistant, would be the Islanders' interim coach through this season.
So Milbury, who as general manager twice fired himself as the Islanders' coach, has perhaps made his last coaching change. He will help Wang find a new general manager, then will help Wang focus on his efforts to renovate the aging Nassau Coliseum.
"When we have a successor to Mike, he will have more time to work on the process -- which is a blessing," Wang said of the arena project.
Despite Thursday night's 3-2 home victory against the Calgary Flames, the Islanders (19-22-2) have lost eight of their past 10 games. Before Thursday night, they had the worst home attendance in the 30-team NHL, averaging 12,838 fans a game.
Stirling, 56, became the Islanders' coach on June 3, 2003, the day Milbury fired Peter Laviolette, who is now the coach of the Carolina Hurricanes and will coach the US Olympic team next month.
Stirling led the Islanders to a 38-29-11-4 record and their third consecutive playoff berth in his only full season as their coach. But Wang and Milbury said the Islanders, especially center Alexei Yashin, had played far below expectations this season.
"I didn't get much sleep last night thinking about that," Shaw, a former NHL defenseman, said of the circumstances under which he replaced Stirling. "It was tough knowing you had a part in getting a guy out of here who gave you a chance to be an assistant coach at this level."
Milbury said the Islanders were losing too many leads, making too many mistakes and taking too many penalties. A change, or two, needed to be made, he said. Milbury said he had been talking for more than a year to Wang, a computer software billionaire based in Long Island, about leaving the hockey operations and becoming Wang's right-hand man. When Milbury fired Stirling, he decided to change jobs, too.
"I'm not trying to run from anything here," Milbury said.
With financial backing from Wang, Milbury turned the Islanders into a playoff team in 2001-2002 after a seven-season drought by acquiring Yashin, Michael Peca and Chris Osgood. But many moves seemed to backfire.
Wang was asked if he might be interested in replacing Milbury with Brent Sutter, who played 10 seasons for the Islanders and was their captain. Sutter, 43, is the owner, coach and general manager of the Red Deer Rebels, a junior team in the Western Hockey League.
Wang said he did not want to single out any candidates, and Sutter's brother, Darryl, who is the general manager and coach of the Flames, squelched speculation about his brother.
Asked to gauge his brother's interest in joining the Islanders, Darryl Sutter said: "I think it would be probably zero. Where he is, what his life is like and what he's doing is really comfortable.
"His ties are to Mr. Torrey and Mr. Arbour," Darryl Sutter added, referring to Bill Torrey, the Islanders' former general manager, and Al Arbour, their former coach.
Wang said he had envisioned Milbury's successor perhaps serving as a coach and general manager, but Darryl Sutter, who has said he is in his last year in the dual role, said doing both jobs was tough because of the intricacies of the NHL's new salary cap.
Now, Milbury will help Wang land a new home for the Islanders. Wang repeated Thursday that Nassau Coliseum was insufficient, even in the short run.
The Islanders are one of four groups interested in developing the 77-acre parcel on which Nassau Coliseum sits. "Six months from now, you may find me beating my head against a wall, thinking, `What have I done?'" Milbury said.
Roundup
Rick DiPietro made 28 saves in his return to goal for the New York Islanders to help Brad Shaw win his first game as an NHL head coach, 3-2 over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.
Mark Parrish scored the go-ahead goal on a power play with 7:44 to play, and DiPietro made the lead stand to cap a hectic two days for the slumping Islanders.
With Calgary's Jordan Leopold off for hooking Arron Asham on a breakaway, Parrish beat Miikka Kiprusoff with a close-range backhander off Miroslav Satan's pass.
Shaw replaced the fired Steve Stirling before the game. The former NHL defenseman will direct the team for the rest of the season.
Mike Milbury also is stepping aside as New York's general manager, but not until he and team owner Charles Wang hire a replacement.
DiPietro, back in goal after missing five games because of a sprained left knee, allowed only Darren McCarty's goal off a rebound in the first minute, and Jarome Iginla's power-play goal late in the first period.
Sharks 2, Senators 0
At Ottawa, Evgeni Nabokov got his first shutout of the season and San Jose extended its winning streak to five games with a win over the Senators. Patrick Marleau and Nils Ekman scored for the Sharks.
Nabokov made 40 saves for his 27th career shutout, his first since March 31, 2004 when he set a franchise record with his ninth of the season.
Marleau beat Dominik Hasek on a breakaway in the second and Ekman finished off a 2-on-1 with Joe Thornton in the third, just moments after Nabokov gloved a rolling puck just in front of the goal line to keep San Jose ahead.
Hasek finished with 34 saves for Ottawa.
Coyotes 2, Sabres 1, SO
At Buffalo, New York, Geoff Sanderson scored the only goal in the shootout to give the Phoenix a victory over Buffalo.
Sanderson deked to his forehand and lifted the puck over Buffalo goalie Martin Biron to snap the Coyotes' four-game losing streak.
Jason Pominville shot wide on Buffalo's final attempt.
In overtime, Phoenix was able to kill off a rare two-man advantage, with goalie Brian Boucher making point blank stops on Thomas Vanek and Teppo Numminen to preserve the tie.
Boucher made 30 saves in his second consecutive start, and third in the last four games. Biron finished with 39 stops for Buffalo.
Panthers 3, Blues 1
At Sunrise, Florida, Olli Jokinen and Joe Nieuwendyk scored in the first period, leading Florida past St. Louis.
Nathan Horton also scored for the Panthers, who are 8-1-1 in their last 10 at home.
Rookie Kevin Dallman scored his first NHL goal for the Blues. St. Louis, which has the worst record in the league, has lost four straight and scored a total of two goals in its last three games.
Florida goalie Roberto Luongo, starting despite tendinitis in his right ankle, stopped 35 shots. Curtis Sanford made 30 saves for St. Louis.
Red Wings 6, Flyers 3
At Detroit, Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk each scored twice in Detroit's win over Philadelphia.
Steve Yzerman assisted on the final goal, moving past Hall of Famer Gordie Howe for seventh place on the NHL's all-time list with his 1,050th assist.
The game was scoreless until midway through the second period and after the third began 1-all, the Red Wings had five goals and the Flyers scored twice.
Philadelphia completed the longest road trip in franchise history with its 11th straight game away from home. The Flyers finished the trip with an 8-2-1 record.
The Flyers have not won in Detroit since Nov. 4, 1988.
Stars 4, Capitals 1
At Dallas, Jason Arnott had two goals and an assist and Dallas beat Washington for its fifth straight win.
Marty Turco also rebounded from two miserable starts to make 26 saves for Dallas.
Arnott scored the first goal just three minutes into the game. Jere Lehtinen scored his team-high 24th goal and Brenden Morrow his 14th to give the Stars a 3-0 lead after the first period.
Turco had allowed six goals on 23 shots his previous two games.
Alexander Ovechkin, the 20-year-old rookie from Russia, scored the Capitals' goal early in the second period when he snapped a shot from the left circle through the small gap between the post and Turco.
The Capitals are winless in their last six games (0-4-2).
Kings 6, Bruins 0
At Boston, Alexander Frolov scored the second hat trick of his career to help Los Angeles shut out Boston.
Mathieu Garon stopped 30 shots for the Kings to get the sixth shutout of his career and the second this season .
Frolov's goals all came in the third period. The first on a wrist shot 44 seconds into the stanza. The next on a penalty shot and the third with 10:55 showing on the clock from a shot in the slot.
Andrew Raycroft took the loss. He was replaced for the second straight game by Tim Thomas in the third period.
Rangers 5, Oilers 4, OT
At New York, Jaromir Jagr scored just 14 seconds into overtime to lift the New York Rangers to a win over Edmonton on Mark Messier night at Madison Square Garden.
Jagr took a pass from Michael Rozsival in the right circle, corralled the puck and slammed in his 28th of the season.
The game started after both teams sat on their benches throughout the 1-hour, 15-minute, number retirement ceremony in honor of former Rangers captain Messier.
Steve Rucchin, Fedor Tyutin, Petr Sykora and Petr Prucha had the other New York goals.
Michael Peca scored twice, and Ales Hemsky and Marc-Andre Bergeron added goals for the Oilers, who held a 30-22 shots advantage.
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