Mike Milbury

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United StatesUnited States  Mike Milbury Ice hockey player
Milbury (left) in the Bruins jersey, 1985

Milbury (left) in the Bruins jersey, 1985
Date of birth June 17, 1952
place of birth Brighton , Massachusetts , USA
size 185 cm
Weight 93 kg
position defender
Shot hand Left
Career stations
1970-1974 Colgate University
1974 Boston Braves
1974-1976 Rochester Americans
1976-1987 Boston Bruins

Michael James "Mike" Milbury (born June 17, 1952 in Brighton , Massachusetts ) is a retired American ice hockey player , coach and official. During his active career from 1974 to 1987, the defender completed over 800 games for the Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League . He then worked for the Bruins as head coach, before serving as general manager for over ten years and temporarily as head coach of the New York Islanders . In 2006 he was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame .

Milbury has been an expert in ice hockey broadcasts since 2007, including for CBC , TSN and currently NBC . As a player, as a coach and official as well as as a TV expert, he regularly caused controversy.

Career

As a player

College and Minor Leagues

Mike Milbury was born in Brighton, a suburb of Boston , and grew up in Walpole . In 1971 he enrolled at Colgate University and played the following three years for their ice hockey team, the Colgate Raiders , in the Eastern College Athletic Conference , where the American came to a total of 76 missions and 61 scorer points . He finished his studies with a degree in social sciences . At the end of the 1973/74 season, Milbury made his professional debut with the Boston Braves from the American Hockey League (AHL), the farm team of the Boston Bruins . With the beginning of the coming season 1974/75 he was active in the new farm team of the Bruins, the Rochester Americans , before he finally signed a contract with the Boston Bruins in November 1974. This was done as a free agent because the American had not been considered in any NHL amateur draft .

After Milbury had spent the 1974/75 season completely in the AHL with the Americans, he made his debut the following year for the Bruins in the National Hockey League and established himself for the first time as part of the playoffs in their squad when he completed eleven of twelve games. During the off-season that followed , he represented his home country with Team USA at the 1976 Canada Cup .

Boston Bruins

With the start of the 1976/77 season, Milbury was an integral part of Boston's NHL roster and remained so for the next eleven years. He was considered a defensively oriented defender who was particularly characterized by his physical to aggressive style of play. During his time with the Bruins Milbury came twice to over 200 penalty minutes in one season, while until today only Terry O'Reilly accumulated more penalty minutes (2095) in the jersey of the Bruins than Milbury (1552). Nevertheless, his time in Boston was marked by sporting success, so the team only missed the playoffs with him in the 1982/83 season, whereas they reached the Stanley Cup finals in 1977 and 1978 , but were subject to the Canadiens de Montréal . In addition, Milbury acted temporarily as a representative of the Bruins at the National Hockey League Players 'Association , the players' union.

1987 Milbury ended his active career in which came to 754 missions and 238 scorer points in the regular season and another 86 playoff games in the NHL.

Shoe brawl in New York

Milbury gained dubious fame through the incidents after the end of a 4-3 away win for the Boston Bruins over the New York Rangers on December 23, 1979 in Madison Square Garden : During a confrontation between the two teams after the final siren, a spectator from the stands grabbed the Plexiglas gang, Bruins player Stan beat Jonathan with a rolled up program booklet and stole his bat . Then Terry O'Reilly and Peter McNab jumped first , but a little later almost the entire team of the Bruins into the auditorium; a scuffle was the result. Milbury had already reached the locker room by this point but was now making his way back into the arena and eventually following his teammates into the stands. As a result, he reached the fan, who had already been overwhelmed by Peter McNab and thrown to the ground, took off one of his shoes and struck it hard once; then he threw the shoe on the ice surface. Nobody was seriously injured.

A month later, O'Reilly were suspended for eight or Milbury and McNab for six games each. In addition, all three players had to pay a fine of $ 500. As a direct result of this incident, the plexiglass bands in the NHL arenas were increased.

As a trainer and functionary

Already during the 1985/86 season, Milbury gained his first experience as an assistant coach for the Bruins when he was out most of the season due to injury. After the end of his active career, he took over the position of head coach of the Maine Mariners , the current AHL farm team of the Bruins. Already in his first season there, the American reached the playoff semifinals and after the season (together with John Paddock ) was honored with the Louis AR Pieri Memorial Award as the best coach of the AHL. After another season in which the team missed the playoffs, Milbury ended his engagement in Maine.

Boston Bruins

He then returned to the Boston Bruins, who hired him in 1989 as the new head coach and successor to Terry O'Reilly ; in parallel, he acted as assistant to General Manager Harry Sinden . The following two years were marked by sporting success, so the American led his former team in his first year directly to the Presidents' Trophy and the Stanley Cup final, where they lost to the Edmonton Oilers . In the following season 1990/91 the Bruins reached first place in the conference and were eliminated in the playoffs only in the conference finals. In addition, Milbury represented his team at the 1991 NHL All-Star Game , but when it came to the composition of the roster , he caused controversy by preferring Chris Nilan , a classic enforcer from his own ranks, to more technically skilled players. As a consequence, the squad of the All-Star-Teams was determined by a committee of the league management from the following year.

After the 1991/92 season, Milbury finally moved into management and worked for the Bruins as assistant to the general manager for two more years. His two years as head coach were two of the most successful in franchise history , with only three coaches having played more than 100 games with the Bruins.

In March 1994, Milbury left the Bruins organization for the first time in almost 20 years and took over the position of head coach of the Boston College Eagles . However, he resigned from this at the beginning of June of the same year without having been behind the gang in a game. In a press conference, he cited differences in leadership philosophy.

New York Islanders

In 1995 Milbury was introduced as the new head coach of the New York Islanders , before he took over the position of general manager three months later, which he subsequently held for almost eleven years. In January 1997 he handed over the coaching duties to Rick Bowness , took them over again shortly before the end of the 1997/98 season and finally left the coaching business in the winter of 1998/99 when he installed Bill Stewart as his successor. In parallel to his work in New York, Milbury also served as General Manager twice for the USA national team and won the bronze medal with it at the 1996 World Cup . In contrast to his time as head coach in Boston, Milbury only managed 56 wins in 191 games as coach of the New York Islanders, making him one of the weakest statistics in franchise history.

However, Milbury saw himself exposed to particular criticism in his function as general manager, for example, due to various barter deals, concluded player contracts and draft decisions, he is rated as one of the worst general managers in the history of the National Hockey League. His most controversial transfers include the transfer of Bryan Berard for Félix Potvin , the swap of Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokinen for Oleg Kwascha and Mark Parrish , the transfer of Bryan McCabe and Todd Bertuzzi for Trevor Linden and the acquisition of Alexei Jaschin for Zdeno Chára , Bill Muckalt and the second right to vote in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft (became Jason Spezza ). He also equipped Jashin with a ten-year contract worth almost 90 million US dollars, which was only active for five seasons with the Islanders. In 2007, the Islanders dissolved this contract (buy-out) , which, however, continued to burden the salary cap into the 2014/15 season. Another controversial personality was goalkeeper Rick DiPietro , who was selected under Milbury by the Islanders in the NHL Entry Draft 2000 in first overall position , but could never meet these expectations.

In January 2007, Milbury resigned as general manager of the Islanders. Overall, the Isles reached the playoffs only three times under Milbury's eleven-year leadership and were eliminated in the first round. In addition, his mismanagement is seen as a factor in the fact that the team was only once in the playoffs in the following years until 2014.

As a TV expert

Milbury gained his first experience as a TV expert in the period between his engagements with the Bruins and Islanders, when he worked for ESPN in 1994 and 1995 . After the end of his engagement with the Islanders, the American returned to the television business, where he has mainly worked for NBC since 2008 and is involved as an expert in the preliminary reporting as well as in the analyzes during the third breaks. Previously, he held the same position, among other things for TSN and format of Hockey Night in Canada on CBC .

In his role as a TV pundit Milbury drew regular criticism on himself, partly due to controversial comments against star players (including Sidney Crosby , PK Subban ) and tend to glorify violence views he expressed in terms of Corey Perry , the best way it stopping it would be "to hurt him painfully and permanently".

Achievements and Awards

Career statistics

Player statistics

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp T V Pt +/- SM Sp T V Pt +/- SM
1973/74 Boston Braves AHL 5 0 0 0 7th - - - - - -
1974/75 Rochester Americans AHL 71 2 15th 17th 246 8th 0 3 3 24
1975/76 Rochester Americans AHL 73 3 15th 18th 199 3 0 1 1 13
1975/76 Boston Bruins NHL 3 0 0 0 +1 9 11 0 0 0 -2 29
1976/77 Boston Bruins NHL 77 6th 18th 24 +25 166 13 2 2 4th +3 47
1977/78 Boston Bruins NHL 80 8th 30th 38 +52 151 15th 1 8th 9 +10 27
1978/79 Boston Bruins NHL 74 1 34 35 +23 149 11 1 7th 8th +4 7th
1979/80 Boston Bruins NHL 72 10 13 23 +7 59 10 0 2 2 ± 0 50
1980/81 Boston Bruins NHL 77 0 18th 18th +14 222 2 0 1 1 +3 10
1981/82 Boston Bruins NHL 51 2 10 12 +10 71 11 0 4th 4th +1 6th
1982/83 Boston Bruins NHL 78 9 15th 24 +22 216 - - - - - -
1983/84 Boston Bruins NHL 74 2 17th 19th +2 159 3 0 0 0 -4 12
1984/85 Boston Bruins NHL 78 3 13 16 –6 152 5 0 0 0 +4 10
1985/86 Boston Bruins NHL 22nd 2 5 7th +1 102 1 0 0 0 -2 17th
1986/87 Boston Bruins NHL 68 6th 16 22nd +22 96 4th 0 0 0 -2 4th
AHL total 149 5 30th 35 452 11 0 4th 4th 37
NHL overall 754 49 189 238 +173 1552 86 4th 24 28 +15 219

International

Represented the USA at:

year team event result Sp T V Pt SM
1976 United States Canada Cup 5th place 5 1 3 4th 16
Men overall 5 1 3 4th 16

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; 1  play-downs / relegation )

Coach statistics

team league season Regular season Playoffs
Games S. N U Pt space S. N result
Maine Mariners AHL 1987/88 80 44 25th 11 99 1. (North) 5 5 Division finals
Maine Mariners AHL 1988/89 80 32 40 8th 72 4. (North) not qualified
Boston Bruins NHL 1989/90 80 46 25th 9 101 1. ( Adams ) 13 8th Stanley Cup Final
Boston Bruins NHL 1990/91 80 44 24 12 100 1. (Adams) 10 9 Conference finals
New York Islanders NHL 1995/96 82 22nd 50 10 54 7. ( Atlantic ) not qualified
New York Islanders NHL 1996/97 45 13 23 9 35 7. (Atlantic) Coaching position handed over to Rick Bowness
New York Islanders NHL 1997/98 19th 8th 9 2 18th 4. (Atlantic) Coached by Rick Bowness
New York Islanders NHL 1998/99 45 13 29 3 29 5. (Atlantic) As coach to Bill Stewart issued
AHL total 160 76 65 19th 171 - 5 5 0 calder cups
NHL overall 351 146 160 45 337 - 23 17th 0 Stanley Cups

( Legend to coach statistics: S = wins; N = defeats; U = draws; pts = points)

Personal

Milbury is married and has four children from her first and two children from her second marriage.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jason Diamos: HOCKEY; A Complicated Task For a Complex coach. nytimes.com, October 6, 1995, accessed July 7, 2017 .
  2. ^ Mike Milbury '74 to be Inducted into US Hockey Hall of Fame. gocolgateraiders.com, September 14, 2006, accessed July 7, 2017 .
  3. ^ Dave Seminara: Over the Glass and Into Hockey Lore. nytimes.com, December 22, 2009, accessed July 7, 2017 .
  4. ^ Alan Greenberg: Commentary: Milbury's All-Star Selection a Joke. latimes.com, January 20, 1991, accessed July 8, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Jason Diamos: Hockey; Milbury Returns to Boston, but with Isles. nytimes.com, October 7, 1995, accessed July 8, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Milbury Quits Bc With 0-0 Mark. chicagotribune.com, June 3, 1994, accessed July 8, 2017 .
  7. ^ Gerald Eskenazi: Hockey; Islanders Rehire Milbury and Throw in a Support Staff. nytimes.com, May 19, 1998, accessed July 8, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Ian Stewart Palmer: Top 10 Worst General Managers in NHL History. thesportster.com, December 26, 2014, accessed July 8, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Anatoliy Metter: Top 10 Worst Mike Milbury Moves. thehockeywriters.com, March 8, 2012, accessed July 8, 2017 .
  10. ^ Bradley Karp: Mike Milbury: 5 Reasons The Former Islanders GM Is The Worst in League History. bleacherreport.com, November 15, 2010, accessed July 8, 2017 .
  11. ^ Colin Stephenson: Making a splash tough-guy Milbury brings winning act to Islanders. nydailynews.com, September 3, 1995, accessed July 8, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Greg Wyshynski: We deserve NHL hot takes, just not from Mike Milbury. yahoo.com, May 2, 2017, accessed July 8, 2017 .
  13. ^ The Best and Worst of Mad Mike Milbury. si.com/, April 4, 2012, accessed July 8, 2017 .
  14. ↑ Peter Botte: TEMPTATION ISLAND: Milbury finally gives fans reason to be optimistic. nydailynews.com, July 11, 2001, accessed July 7, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Milbury, Mike
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Milbury, Michael James (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH June 17, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Brighton , Massachusetts , United States