Gary Doak Signed By Islanders - Player Role As Shoot Out Specialist

OK, now that I have your intention, the Doak signing is not true. But, perhaps for a moment you thought it was, because nothing from the Islanders really surprises us anymore. What is driving the Islanders into the ground is Charles Wang and a myriad of poor choices he has made as owner of this team.

In any business, leadership at the top sets the strategy and culture within an organization in its pursuit of success. It is interesting to look at rankings of the best and worst owners in the NHL. The top 5 are listed below:

1. Mike Ilitch, Detroit Red Wings
2. Jeffrey Vanderbeek, New Jersey Devils
3. Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, Pittsburgh Penquins
4. Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment, San Jose Sharks
5. Peter Karmonos, Carolina Hurricaines

The worst 5 are provided below:

1. MLSE, Toronto Maple Leafs
2. Alan Cohen, Florida Panthers
3. Charles Wang, New York Islanders
4. Atlanta Spirit, Atlanta Thrashers
5. Predator Holdings, Nashville Predators


Source: Sports Illustrated, May 2009

I think these lists are relatively accurate. Frankly, I would add Ted Leonsis of the Washington Capitals to the list of the best. He is a bright guy, has built a fine organization, has a capable GM and arguably the best coach in hockey. Strong ownership is a huge differentiator for a prospective player when they consider the +/-'s of a given city. Quality ownership attracts the more talented players, it's that simple. Strong owners have infiltrated their organizations with outstanding hockey people that are extraordinary at judging talent.

Another addition to the worst owners list would be Jeremy Jacobs of the Boston Bruins. He has owned the Bruins for more than thirty years without a Stanley Cup. While I do believe Jacobs is on the right track, as Peter Chiarelli and Cam Neely are quite capable, he stuck far too long with Harry Sinden and he is still paying the price for it. As for the order of the poorly ranked owners, I maintain Charles Wang is unquestionably the worst. Just look at his track record as founder of Computer Associates (CA). For me this served as a really accurate predictor of what was to come with the New York Islanders when he became part owner in 2000 and full owner in 2004.

While at CA, Mr. Wang's career had considerable controversy. He spearheaded over fifty takeovers. In most cases these takeovers were followed by immediate firing of top management and key employees. The most despicable of these practices included forcing the employees of newly acquired company to sign new employment contracts on-the-spot at a company meeting with no prior warning - employees who refused to sign at the meeting or wished to have the contracts reviewed by a third party prior to signing were summarily fired. Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle once quipped, CA is where all good software goes to rest. Once a really good software company was acquired by CA, typically its employees and customers ran like the wind.

In 2000 a civil action lawsuit accused Wang, co-founder Russell Artzt, and President Sanjay Kumar of wrongfully reporting $2.5 billion of revenues in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000. This was done with the intention of inflating CA's stock price.  Since 2000, four other class action suites have been filed against CA, all of them specifically cited Wang.

So, the NHL in its infinite wisdom, approves Mr. Wang becoming owner of the Islanders. What ensued has been a series of poor decisions that is driving this once storied franchise into the ground, let's take a look:

1. Keeping Mike "Gimme Your Shoe" Milbury in place too long. Milbury's tenure as Islander GM was littered with poor trades. He traded away Zdeno Chara, Wade Redden, Bryan Berard, Eric Brewer, Darius Kasparaitis, and Bryan McCabe; goalies Roberto Luongo and Tommy Salo, as well as forwards Olli Jokinen, Todd Bertuzzi, Tim Connolly, and Raffi Torres. Chara, Brewer, Luongo, Jokinen, Connelly, and Torres trades were conducted by Milbury under Wang's ownership. "Gimme Your Shoe" also selected Rick DiPietro first overall in the 2000 draft when both Dany Heatley and Marian Gaborik were available. To make matters worse he signed this mediocre unproven goalie, DiPietro, to a ten year $67 million dollar contract that Wang had to approve. This crappy contract and the salary cap will encumber the Islanders for years.
2. Fires GM Neil Smith after 40 days. Wang gave Smith very little latitude in personnel and staffing decisions. Instead Wang wanted to subject the GM's decisions to ratification by a committee of advisors. Can you imagine what draft day in a circus like this would be like?
3. Senior Advisor Pat Lafontaine quits after 10 days on the job.  Guess the advisors were not on board with this approach either.   
4. Hires Garth Snow as General Manager. NO experience at all. Great goaltender, no clue on how to run a hockey club.
5. Rescinds access to blogger Chris Botta for reporting facts about the Islanders. Seems Mr. Botta expressed his disagreement with the recent firing of Islander coach Scott Gordon. Botta indicated Gordon was in a "no win" situation given the only way the Islanders are meeting the cap floor is via massive buyouts. He also cited DiPietro's ridiculous contract and Snow's ineptness at constructing a hockey team.  

How much longer can the NHL keep Jim Balsillie on the sidelines?