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Quenneville should be next Islanders coach

Mark Herrmann

July 17, 2008

The first requirement for the next coach of the Islanders is that he be able to deal with young players. The second is that he knows how to deal with the team's core players, who would qualify as young only at an AARP convention.

That is only part of the conundrum. If you take a quick peek at the roster, you'll notice that the Islanders aren't hip deep in 40-goal scorers, Norris Trophy defensemen or, oddly for a franchise in a youth movement, all that much youth.

So, no, there is no ideal candidate to succeed Ted Nolan, who did seem to specialize in getting a lot out of a little. This would be a tough job for Toe Blake, Punch Imlach, Scotty Bowman or Al Arbour (regardless of the fact Arbour did go 1-0 with this crew in 2007-08).

Having said all that, we still have a suggestion for general manager Garth Snow, who fired Nolan on Monday for "philosophical differences," presumably over Nolan's reluctance to trust young players.

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Joel Quenneville is the man Snow should hire. He is fresh off a three-year stint with the Avalanche, having gone 131-92-23 but let go because his team was swept out of the second round by the Cup-bound Red Wings. Losing in the second round is no indictment around here. Quenneville did coach a banged-up, patched-together roster to a first-round win, something no Islanders coach has done since Arbour did it in 1993.

He is known to be a teacher, defensive specialist and friend of Barry Trotz, the Predators coach whose longtime partnership with his general manager is the model Snow wants to replicate. Quenneville was the NHL coach of the year with the Blues in 2000, three years after Nolan won that award with the Sabres.

Nolan's ouster this week still is a shocker. He sure did get the usually outgunned Islanders to play hard. We can understand why he felt miffed about not receiving a contract extension: Snow wanted him to play younger guys more, but Nolan knew that coaches get fired when rookies make mistakes.

And it is not as if the Islanders have a busload of young Wayne Gretzkys and Sidney Crosbys just waiting for the coach to give them a chance. Aside from Kyle Okposo, they don't have one blue-chip, can't-miss prospect. Key players Bill Guerin, Doug Weight, Mike Sillinger, Brendan Witt, Andy Sutton and Richard Park all are 32 or older. Trent Hunter is 28, Rick DiPietro will be 27 by opening night. Some of these fellows happen to know the owner's phone number, too. Lots of luck to the next guy behind the bench.

To be fair, we don't know what went on behind the scenes. And if a coach can't figure out a way to get along with his boss, how can he outfox Brent Sutter, Tom Renney and the rest of the coaches in the division?

To Snow's credit, in an interview at minicamp yesterday, he did not emphasize only the rookies. He said the next coach has to communicate with veterans, too. Snow said he does not equate "rebuilding" with giving up. He expects the Islanders to compete. He also believes in clean slates: "Wins and losses do not always indicate how successful a coach is. A coach could have been in a bad situation."

One candidate who knows that tune is Paul Maurice, a witty and honest communicator who has been through one of these "building" phases with Hartford/Carolina. He also has just been fired from the meat grinder of coaching in Toronto, which is a little like managing in the Bronx.

Another intriguing choice is Greg Gilbert, the former Flames coach who had a big year coaching the minor-league Toronto Marlies. Better yet, he won two Cup rings as an Islanders forward.

But the best choice would be Quenneville, who was the assistant coach of the old Quebec Nordiques when Snow was a goalie there. He is accomplished. He is smart. The only question is whether he is too smart to take this job.