Torrey can empathize with Islanders' situation
Former Islanders general manager Bill Torrey walks the red carpet prior to the Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony earlier this month. (Nov. 8, 2010) Credit: Getty Images
Less than a decade before they became the dynasty that won four straight Stanley Cups in the early 1980s, the Islanders faced tough times.
In their first season, they set what still stands as a franchise-worst winless streak of 15 games - a mark the 2010-11 Islanders averted Friday with a 2-0 win over the Devils that snapped a 14-game losing streak.
Almost 40 years later, teams face a whole different set of constraints with the salary cap, the collective- bargaining agreement and changes to the league and the game itself.
But franchises still can turn around - and quickly - just as the Islanders did years ago.
How?
"It's just a question of when those players start to take hold and exhibit the talent they've shown in juniors or in college at the NHL level," said Bill Torrey, hired in 1972 as the team's first general manager.
Called "The Architect" for his shrewd and masterful work that helped lead the team to four Stanley Cups from 1980-83, Torrey can empathize with the uphill battle that current GM Garth Snow faces.
Torrey had little time to assemble a scouting staff when he was hired to direct the franchise - and little talent from which to choose during the 1972 expansion draft, save for Ed Westfall and goaltender Bill Smith. But Torrey stayed the course and weathered a few rough years while grooming young talents such as Bobby Nystrom, Denis Potvin and Lorne Henning.
The future Hall of Fame executive was rewarded in his third season, when the Islanders upset a heavily favored Rangers team in a best-of-three, first-round playoff series.
"That probably did more to legitimize our franchise and develop the young talent that became the nucleus of our team than anything," Torrey, the Florida Panthers' alternate governor, said by telephone Sunday.
After losing to Philadelphia in the conference finals in 1975, the Islanders continued their climb, adding key players such as Clark Gillies, Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy and Butch Goring over the years to position themselves for what would be a historic run.
Can this new generation of Islanders, currently in last place in the East with a 5-12-5 record, make a turnaround as well? "It's not for lack of effort," Nystrom said. "More than anything else, you have to look at what guys are doing from an ability standpoint. I look at the team, and much of what they need is maturity."
Said Potvin: "The Islanders' situation is a difficult one because there's the arena, the Lighthouse Project - nothing has gone right. Now [Mark] Streit is out, [Kyle] Okposo is out, captain Doug Weight has missed time. It never ends."
Torrey believes the latter issue - the injuries that have decimated this current squad - is the Islanders' biggest hurdle. Once they overcome that, who knows?
"When you're really short on talent and you start losing key players to injuries, the depth or lack thereof becomes much more obvious," Torrey said. "Once they get those players back, I think they can settle down and be competitive."
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