Mike Milbury

Michael Milbury (born June 17, 1952) is an American former professional ice hockey player currently working as an analyst for the NHL on NBC. He played for twelve seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), all for the Boston Bruins. He later served as assistant general manager under Harry Sinden and head coach for Boston, as well as general manager and head coach for the New York Islanders.

Mike Milbury
Milbury (left) awaiting a face off
Born	(1952-06-17) June 17, 1952 Brighton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight	205 lb (93 kg; 14 st 9 lb)
Position	Defense
Shot	Left
Played for	Boston Bruins
National team	United States
NHL Draft	Undrafted
Playing career	1974–1987

Biography

Playing career

Colgate University

Milbury was a three-year letterman at Colgate University from 1972 to 1974. A defenseman who wore uniform number 7, he was the team's co-leader in assists with 19 in his junior year. As senior captain, he had his best season with the Red Raiders with 30 points (4 goals, 26 assists). He also led the squad in penalty minutes in both campaigns with 68 in 1973 and 85 in 1974. His totals in 76 games played were 6 goals, 55 assists, 61 points and 203 penalty minutes.[1]

Boston Bruins

Immediately after the conclusion of his college hockey career, Milbury played in five games with the Boston Braves, the Bruins' top farm team, in 1974. He signed with the Bruins as a free agent on November 5, 1974, and spent the next two campaigns with the Rochester Americans, the team's new American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate.[2] In both seasons he led the club in penalty minutes with 246 in 1975 and 199 in 1976, finishing fourth and third respectively in the AHL.[3][4]

He was promoted to the Bruins late in the 1975–76 season, playing in eleven of twelve Stanley Cup playoff matches. Prior to the following NHL campaign, he was a member of the United States team at the inaugural 1976 Canada Cup, getting a goal and three assists in five contests.[2]

In his first three full years with the Bruins, his heavily aggressive style of play was a perfect fit for the overachieving team coached by Don Cherry and featuring similar tough players such as Terry O'Reilly, John Wensink and Stan Jonathan. Milbury helped his team reach consecutive Stanley Cup Finals in 1977 and 1978, with Boston losing both times to the Montreal Canadiens in four and six games respectively.

In his twelve seasons as a defenseman for the Bruins, he appeared in the postseason eleven times. He accumulated more than 200 penalty minutes in 1981 (222) and 1983 (216) and surpassed 100 six other times. He also served as the club's representative with the NHL Players' Association and was outspoken on several controversial issues, notably the role of Alan Eagleson.[2]

Coaching career

Boston Bruins

Milbury became head coach of the Boston Bruins in the 1989–90 season, leading the team to the Presidents' Trophy and an appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals. He was named Executive of the Year by the Sporting News.

He was the head coach of the Wales Conference team at the 1991 All-Star Game, where he generated some controversy by including enforcer Chris Nilan and checker Brian Skrudland ahead of players such as Kirk Muller and Guy Lafleur. However, Nilan and Skrudland both missed the game due to injury. As a result of Milbury's controversial roster picks, the league's board of governors changed their policy so that future teams would be chosen by committee.[5]

Boston College

On March 30, 1994, Boston College announced that Mike Milbury would take over as the head coach of the hockey team, replacing Steve Cedorchuk.[6] However, Milbury abruptly left the job at Boston College before coaching a game, citing "philosophical differences" with the school's athletics department in a press conference held on June 2, 1994.[7] BC eventually hired legendary coach Jerry York, then the head coach at Bowling Green University, to replace Milbury, while Milbury took work as a television analyst.[8]

New York Islanders

Milbury was hired as the Islanders' coach in 1995 and within three months became the general manager as well, but he turned the coaching duties over to Rick Bowness in January 1997.[9] During several of the years that Milbury served as Islanders GM, the team's ownership mandated that he operate the team on an austere budget. In 1999, he was forced to trade star scorer Žigmund Pálffy because team owners no longer wanted to pay his multimillion-dollar contract.

However, Milbury has also been criticized for the many seemingly poor decisions he made in which payroll or orders from upper management were not factors. Many young players and prospects that Milbury traded away went on to have distinguished careers, often eclipsing those of the players he received in return. He traded away defensemen Zdeno Chara, Wade Redden, Bryan Berard, Eric Brewer, Darius Kasparaitis, and Bryan McCabe; goaltenders Roberto Luongo and Tommy Salo; as well as forwards Olli Jokinen, Todd Bertuzzi, Tim Connolly, Jean-Pierre Dumont, and Raffi Torres. Milbury has also come under fire for his poor draft-day decisions such as choosing Rick DiPietro first overall in 2000 over Dany Heatley and Marian Gaborik, as well as his decision to include the 2001 second overall draft pick (Jason Spezza) as part of the Alexei Yashin trade.

In June 2006, Milbury stepped down as Islanders GM to accept a position as Senior Vice President of Charles Wang's sports holdings. In an appearance on Mike and the Mad Dog, Wang did not challenge a suggestion from the hosts that he "fired" Milbury. Milbury resigned from his Senior VP job in May 2007. He said that he missed making hockey-related decisions and would be open to a hockey operations job in another organization.

Television work

American networks NESN, NBC and Versus, plus Canada's TSN, hired Milbury as a studio analyst for the 2007–08 season. He also serves as the studio analyst for the Boston Bruins, and for the past two years, he has participated in the broadcast of the Winter Classic. In July 2008, Milbury signed a two-year contract with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Hockey Night in Canada. Voted worst commentator on “NHL on NBC”, receiving over 40% of the vote. Most cited his blatant bias towards his former team, the Boston Bruins. He also served as color commentator for “NHL on NBC” telecasts involving Boston Bruins with Kenny Albert and Emmy-Award winning "Inside-the-Glass" reporter Pierre McGuire.

Shoe incident

Milbury gained notoriety for what occurred following a 4–3 Bruins victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on December 23, 1979. During an on-ice fray between the players from both sides, a Rangers fan cut Stan Jonathan's face with a rolled-up program and grabbed his hockey stick. Terry O'Reilly climbed over the Plexiglas and went into the stands in pursuit of the offender, followed by Peter McNab and other teammates. Milbury, who had actually reached the visitors locker room when his teammates started going into the stands, raced back to join his colleagues in the brawl. He caught the unruly spectator, removed one of his shoes and, while holding the heel end, slapped him hard once with the sole side before being restrained. Subsequently, NHL president John Ziegler suspended O'Reilly for eight games and McNab and Milbury for six, with each being fined $500. This incident also resulted in the installation of higher glass panels enclosing rinks in hockey arenas.[10]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1971–72	Walpole Rebels	HS-MA		—	—	—	—	—		—	—	—	—	—
1972–73	Colgate University	ECAC		27	4	25	29	81		—	—	—	—	—
1973–74	Colgate University	ECAC		23	2	19	21	68		—	—	—	—	—
1973–74	Boston Braves	AHL		5	0	0	0	7		—	—	—	—	—
1974–75	Rochester Americans	AHL		71	2	15	17	246		8	0	3	3	24
1975–76	Boston Bruins	NHL		3	0	0	0	9		11	0	0	0	29
1975–76	Rochester Americans	AHL		73	3	15	18	199		3	0	1	1	13
1976–77	Boston Bruins	NHL		77	6	18	24	166		13	2	2	4	47
1977–78	Boston Bruins	NHL		80	8	30	38	151		15	1	8	9	27
1978–79	Boston Bruins	NHL		74	1	34	35	149		11	1	7	8	7
1979–80	Boston Bruins	NHL		72	10	13	23	59		10	0	2	2	50
1980–81	Boston Bruins	NHL		77	0	18	18	222		2	0	1	1	10
1981–82	Boston Bruins	NHL		51	2	10	12	71		11	0	4	4	6
1982–83	Boston Bruins	NHL		78	9	15	24	216		—	—	—	—	—
1983–84	Boston Bruins	NHL		74	2	17	19	159		3	0	0	0	12
1984–85	Boston Bruins	NHL		78	3	13	16	152		5	0	0	0	10
1985–86	Boston Bruins	NHL		22	2	5	7	102		1	0	0	0	17
1986–87	Boston Bruins	NHL		68	6	16	22	96		4	0	0	0	4
NHL totals				754	49	189	238	1552		86	4	24	28	219

International

Year	Team	Event		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1976	United States	CC		5	1	3	4	16

NHL coaching record

Team	Year	Regular season						Post season
		G	W	L	T	Pts	Division rank	Result
BOS	1989–90	80	46	25	9	101	1st in Adams	Lost in Stanley Cup Finals
BOS	1990–91	80	44	24	12	100	1st in Adams	Lost in Conference Finals
NYI	1995–96	82	22	50	10	54	7th in Atlantic	Missed Playoffs
NYI	1996–97	45	13	23	9	(70)	7th in Atlantic	(Moved to GM's Role)
NYI	1997–98	19	8	9	2	(71)	4th in Atlantic	Missed Playoffs
NYI	1998–99	45	13	29	3	(58)	5th in Atlantic	(Returned to GM's role)
Total		351	146	160	45

References

1. 2009–10 Colgate University Men's Hockey Media Guide.
2. Mike James Milbury (biography) – Legends of Hockey.
3. 1974–75 AHL Leaders – The Internet Hockey Database.
4. 1975–76 AHL Leaders – The Internet Hockey Database.
5. "COMMENTARY : Milbury's All-Star Selection a Joke". 1991-01-20.
6. Martins, Gus (March 31, 1994). "Milbury moves on to BC". Boston Herald.
7. Conroy, Steve (June 3, 1994). "Milbury BC not for me". Boston Herald.
8. Baker, Jim (January 2, 1995). "TV Sports; Milbury, Lobel tear it up". Boston Herald.
9. Eskenazi, Gerald (1998-05-19). "Islanders Rehire Milbury and Throw in a Support Staff". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
10. Seminara, Dave. "Over The Glass And Into Lore," The New York Times, Wednesday, December 23, 2009.

External links

• Mike Milbury career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database
• The December 23, 1979 Boston Bruins vs. New York Rangers Mike Milbury Shoe Beating Incident on YouTube

Preceded by Terry O'Reilly	Head coach of the Boston Bruins 1989–91	Succeeded by Rick Bowness
Preceded by Lorne Henning	Head coach of the New York Islanders 1995–97	Succeeded by Rick Bowness
Preceded by Rick Bowness	Head coach of the New York Islanders 1998	Succeeded by Bill Stewart
Preceded by Darcy Regier	General Manager of the New York Islanders 1995–2006	Succeeded by Neil Smith