Here’s something the Islanders’ brass must keep in mind as Mike Sullivan and Rick Tocchet hit the coaching market, representing as loud a temptation as there is to speed things up with the team’s general manager search.
All but eight current general managers in the NHL have hired a second head coach or are in the process of doing so. Those who haven’t (Eric Tulsky in Carolina, Chris MacFarland in Colorado, Don Waddell in Columbus, Stan Bowman in Edmonton, Barry Trotz in Nashville, Jason Botterill in Seattle, Julien BriseBois in Tampa and Chris Patrick in Washington) almost uniformly have been hired in the past three years — and most of them more recently than that.
The lone exception is BriseBois, who was the assistant general manager when Jon Cooper was hired in Tampa and who has watched Cooper win a pair of Cups as general manager after keeping him on.
On the ice from Long Island
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What the Islanders need right now far outstrips anything a head coach can provide.