NFL

N.Y. done with Milbury decisions

By TOM JONES
Published January 15, 2006

Finally, Mike Milbury is being held responsible for the mess on Long Island.

Every year, it seems, the Islanders are on the verge of going from mediocre to Cup contender. And, every year, they end up mediocre again. Last week, coach Steve Stirling was fired. This time, however, Milbury is going to lose some power. After the season, he will be reassigned to the newly created position of senior VP of sports properties and concentrate more on the business aspects of all of owner Charles Wang's sports ventures. He no longer will make hockey decisions.

That's because he has made plenty of bad hockey decisions.

Consider some of the trades he has made:

Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokinen for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha.

Todd Bertuzzi and Bryan McCabe for Trevor Linden, who was then traded for a pick that became Branislav Mezei, who was traded for Jason Wiemer, who was put on waivers. So, add it up and it became Bertuzzi and McCabe for ... nobody.

Zdeno Chara and a second overall draft pick ( Jason Spezza) for Alexei Yashin.

Tommy Salo for Mats Lindgren.

Bryan Berard for Felix Potin when Salo was still the No. 1 goalie.

Then throw into the mix that he picked Rick DiPietro ahead of Dany Heatley and Marian Gaborik. And he fired coach Peter Laviolette.

It's a wonder Milbury lasted 11 years as GM on Long Island.

Brent Sutter, who is coaching in Red Deer and recently led Canada to the World Junior Championship, is the front-runner to be named GM and coach.

LEADER OF THE PACK: Chris Drury has established himself as the on- and off-ice leader of the surprising Sabres. The latest example is convincing GM Darcy Regier that the team should shoot higher than simply making the playoffs and that a few photos of the Stanley Cup should be put on the walls in and around the dressing room.

"I was lying in bed one night and couldn't sleep, and it just dawned on me there wasn't one in here," Drury said. "I think it should be here."

HEY 19: Steve Yzerman is so respected by Hockey Canada that no one on the men's or women's Olympic teams will wear the No. 19 even though Yzerman isn't playing in the Olympics. And that's quite an honor considering Joe Sakic, Joe Thornton and Shane Doan all wear the No. 19. "Can you imagine how good you must be for them to do that?" Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "This is Canada. They're saying you can't wear that number. You must be pretty good, and pretty good for a long period of time. How good must you be?"

FLYING HOME: The Flyers 11-game trip was quite the success. They went 8-2-1, but it did end with a 6-3 loss at Joe Louis Arena to the Red Wings. The Flyers haven't won in Motown since Nov. 4, 1988 - an 11-6 victory after trailing 5-1 in the first period. Counting the regular season and playoffs, the Flyers are 0-15-2 since.

By the way, Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said the Red Wings were "the best team we've played all year."

FOLLOW THE BOUNCING PUCK: Either the Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota is haunted or something is wrong with the boards. Four times this season, a crazy hop off the boards has led directly to goals. Two have gone for the Wild, and two have gone against. Goalie Manny Fernandez said after the latest bad-hop goal that, finally, the arena can lay claim to having the worst boards in hockey.

A local television reporter asked Wild coach Jacques Lemaire what was going on as if Lemaire were responsible for bolting down the darn things.

"I'm not the plumber. I'm not the carpenter," Lemaire said. "So I wouldn't know about that. I'm only the coach."

THE BIG E: Toronto's Eric Lindros will not need surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right wrist that has kept him out for the past month. Had he undergone surgery, he probably would have been lost for the season.

"Things are good right now and I know they are going to get better," said Lindros, who was having a nice season with 22 points in 30 games before the injury. "I don't have an exact timetable right now but things seem to be moving in the right direction."

WHAT A MESS: The Rangers had an emotional ceremony Thursday night in retiring the No. 11 for former captain Mark Messier. But in a footnote, Jaromir Jagr won the game that followed against the Oilers with an overtime goal. Jagr also scored an overtime goal for Pittsburgh in Wayne Gretzky's final game and ceremony at Madison Square Garden.

"I finished their careers," Jagr said.

ICE CHIPS: The Flyers are believed to be interested in reacquiring Penguins forward Mark Recchi. ... Ottawa is looking to dump forward Radek Bonk, but it will be hard to move a defensive forward who is making $2-million a season and still has another season left on his contract. ... The Senators' home arena will go from being named the Corel Centre to Scotiabank Place. The bank will pay roughly $20-million over 15 years for the naming rights.

Information from the Buffalo News, Detroit News, St. Paul Pioneer-Press and Journal News was used in this report.

[Last modified January 15, 2006, 01:48:18]