Lessons from "Mad Mike"

As you have probably noticed, Mike Milbury is now the newest member of the NHL On TSN team. Like Mike Keenan and Brian Burke before him, he took up the analyst chair after getting the boot from his previous job. There is one distinct difference between Milbury and the other two though, milbury won't be making his comeback in the NHL anytime soon.

I am a fan of Mike the broadcaster, but Mike the GM was the worst thing to happen to the islanders organization since mr. Wang bought it. The isles are still recovering from his idiotic trades, they turned the team from contender to pretender. The only team that might have benefited from having Mad Mike as a Gm would be the Leafs because they share the same philosophy as him. What's Mad Mike's philosophy you ask? Well, when he was Gm of the islanders, he was so desperate for his team to make the playoffs that he traded the majority of his young players for much older ones that would help immediately. Understand the connection to the leafs now? He might not have been aware of it, but what he was doing was destroying all of the islanders hopes of one day having an elite team. Hence the name, "Mad Mike"

Milbury was probably involved in the most lopsided trade in recent NHL history. He traded away both Olli Jokinen and Roberto Luongo to the Florida Panthers for what now looks like table scraps I believe the key player going the other way that milbury was so interested in was a player by the name of OLEG KVASHA. Roberto Luongo is an all-star goalie and was last year's heart trophy Runnner up. Jokinen was no slouch either. He has been a steady point producer his whole career and just recently broke the record for most points as a Florida Panther.

Had he not made the trade with Florida, he could have used the first overall pick in the 2000 draft to pick a man by the name of Dany Heatley, who went 2nd overall after Rick Dipietro that year. Other notable players that Mike traded away at a young age are Zdeno Chara, Wade Redden, Bryan McCabe, Raffi Torres, Bryan Berard, Darius Kasparitus, Todd Bertuzzi, Eric Brewer, and a first round pick that became Jason Spezza.

I dont know about you, but that islander team team would be a force to be reckoned with had they not screwed around with their young talent.

You might be asking yourself what this story has to do with the habs? the answer is, everything!

The habs are at a crucial stage in their five year plan. They are finally starting to see the fruits of their great drafting over the years. Players such as Komisarek, Higgins and Plekanec are bonafide NHLers now and Carey Price, Kyle Chipchura, Andrei Kostitsyn and Mikhail Grabovski are not too far behind.

Gainey has to be smart with his youth and manage it properly or else we are back to square one. He's got to continue to make room for the young guns over time by slowly moving all the veterans off the roster. He's got to remeber, unlike Milbury that his team's future is bright and he can't be lured in by another GM to make a "Quick Fix". I trust that Gainey will make the right decision, he's not John Ferguson Jr. lol

Hopefully this isn't Gainey's style, and he stays the course and continues developping players in our own system. Players such as Mcdonagh, Sergei Kostitsyn, Pacioretty, O'Byrne, White, Maxwell and Halak are all future NHLers and will have their chance to contribute when the time comes.

You never know, we might just have another gold mine on our hands like the islanders had not too long ago. They had a roster stacked with future stars waiting to explode...but they failed to see it. Hopefully, Gainey manages the youth better than Mad Mike. if he doesnt, he might be only a couple of years away from sitting with Duthie, Dreger and the rest of the NHL on TSN Team.