Newsday: Hark Herrmann tells us what he feels should be the requirements of the teams next head coach and gives his reasons for suggesting Joel Quenneville (as he also mentions Paul Maurice & Greg Gilbert) as the man Garth Snow should hire.
He also talks about what he calls Ted Nolan's firing even though he admits he knew nothing about what went on behind the scenes but felt they team played hard for the now former coach and that outside of Okposo there are no franchise level talents on the roster and that the veterans know Charles Wang's telephone number number also as he wished the next coach good luck.
Mr Herrmann also credits Snow in an interview at minicamp Wednesday for not only emphasizing rookies but the next coach has to communicate with veterans, nor does he equate "rebuilding" with giving up and expects his club to compete and that wins and losses do not always indicate how successful a coach is.
NYI Fan Central Comments:It's amazing how little Mark Herrmann for all the games he covered seemed to know about the club. This team did not play very hard too many nights, he was around early on the beat covering some of those games when they scored two goals in fourteen straight games and went well into the second period before generating one quality chance. The game they took fifty three shots and did not score they worked hard, you can work hard and still not score but anyone watching can tell the difference.
You can also score a bunch of goals and play terrible. Is giving up close to forty five shots and scoring three shorthanded goals against Carolina a team working well or another team that was just as bad?
Obviously Mr Herrmann is picking up on Mr Logan who had Queneville added to the list but it would be ironic if the coach Ryan Smyth decided to sign on and play for last season signed here?
Speculation?Quenneville would not touch the Messier-Sather Rangers a few years ago and work in the East. At least here he would know his role but given how long coaches last here it could be a tough sell, no doubt he has plenty of experience with Weight and Guerin and would be a replacement that would command respect on all levels.
Newsday: Greg Logan has comments from Kyle Okposo in minicamp about how he has to fill the void along with a player like Blake Comeau and how last year does help now that he played at this level in terms of not getting down on himself.
Mr Logan adds the name of AHL coach of the year Scott Gordon to the list of potential Islander candidates for head coach along with Quenneville in his article.
NY Post: Dan Martin has a brief update on the signings of Sean Bergenheim and Jeff Tambellini with general manager Garth Snow's comments.
Ct Post Mr Fornabaio has a late blog with some comments and will be at camp tomorrow.
