Mike Milbury

Michael James Milbury (born June 17, 1952 in Brighton, Massachusetts) is a former defenseman for the Boston Bruins. He later served as assistant general manager under Harry Sinden and head coach for Boston, as well as GM and coach for the New York Islanders.

Bio

Stats

                     
As a player:
                                    Regular Season       Playoffs
Season   Team                 Lge   GP  G   A Pts  PIM   GP G  A Pts PIM 
1972-73  Colgate University  NCAA   23  2  19  21   68      
1973-74  Colgate University  NCAA   28  4  26  30   85      

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  Rochester Americans  AHL   73  3  15  18  199    3 0  1  1  13 

1975-76  Boston Bruins        NHL    3  0   0   0    9   11 0  0  0  29 
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 

As a coach:

Season  Team               Lge Type      GP  W  L  T Pct      Result 
1985-86 Boston Bruins      NHL Assistant        ---             
1987-88 Maine Mariners     AHL Head      80 44 25  7 0.61875  Lost in round 2 
1988-89 Maine Mariners     AHL Head      80 32 40  8 0.45000  Out of Playoffs 
1989-90 Boston Bruins      NHL Head      80 46 25  9 0.63125  Lost in Finals 
1990-91 Boston Bruins      NHL Head      80 44 24 12 0.62500  Lost in round 3 
1995-96 New York Islanders NHL Head      82 22 50 10 0.32927  Out of Playoffs 
1996-97 New York Islanders NHL Head      45 13 23  9 0.38889  Replaced Midseason
1997-98 New York Islanders NHL Head      19  8  9  2 0.47368  Out of Playoffs 
1998-99 New York Islanders NHL Head             ---           Replaced Midseason

Colgate University

Milbury played college ice hockey for Colgate University before signing a professional contract with the hometown Boston Bruins of the NHL in 1972/73. He managed to become a regular for the Bruins in the 1976 Stanley Cup playoffs and later represented the United States team at the inaugural 1976 Canada Cup.

National Hockey League

Boston Bruins

He 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.

1979 Shoe Incident

One of Milbury's most remembered NHL moment did not take place on the ice but rather in the stands. On December 23, of the 1979-80 NHL season against the Bruins rivals the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. As a 4-3 victory by the Bruins concluded, a mob of Bruins and Rangers formed along the boards behind the bruin’s goal line toward the bench side of the area. A Rangers fan reached over the glass and stole the stick of Bruin: Terry O'Reilly while another fan reached over the glass and punched Bruin: Stan Jonathan in the head. O'Reilly immediately climbed the glass into the stands and was followed by several Bruins, Milbury included. O'Riley tackled the fan responsible for stealing his stick as Milbury targeted Rangers fan John Kaptain and proceeded to beat him with his own shoe. Four NYR fans were arrested and O’Riley was suspended for 8 games for the donnybrook.[1][2]

New York Islanders

He is a well-known figure in the National Hockey League for his controversial (and often quotable) style, as well as for his penchant for blockbuster trades. For these reasons, when he referred to himself as "Mad Mike" after trading away Roberto Luongo, the nickname has stuck ever since.

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 Zigmund Palffy because team owners no longer wanted to pay his multi-million dollar contract.

However, Milbury has also been criticized for the many decisions he made in which payroll or orders for 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 has traded away defensemen 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, Raffi Torres. Milbury has also come under fire for his 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.

Throughout Milbury's tenure as Islanders GM, fans chanted "Mike Must Go" when the team performed badly.

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 TSN in Canada hired Milbury as an analyst for the 07/08 season.

In July 2008 Milbury signed a 2 year contract with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Hockey Night in Canada.

Quotes

About agent Paul Kraus

Kraus was the agent for Islanders' star forward Zigmund Palffy. He and Milbury frequently butted heads.

• "I think the agent is a moron and way in over his head."
• "It's too bad he lives in the city. He's depriving some small village of a pretty good idiot."
• "We hope that Ziggy will come to his senses. We have no hope Paul Kraus will."

On Eric Brewer

• "The kid's playing like he's sniffing glue."

On Roberto Luongo

• "We're rolling the dice here a little bit. Roberto Luongo is going to be an excellent goaltender in this league. He is a class act and a kid I know we would have been happy to ride with. But hell, I've gotta send him off."

On himself

• "I'm a 1978 Toyota with 86,000 miles on it, rust spots, and a hole in the floorboard. But hey, I start every morning."
• "I'm trying not to be really annoyed. But you know me. That won't last long."
• "If we are not better immediately....and if we are not a playoff team in the near future then it's off with my damn head." (6/25/00)
• "It’s unbelievable that after more than 30 years in the game, pummeling a guy with his loafer will be my legacy. But I guess it's better than having no legacy at all."

References

Mike Milbury biography at Legends of Hockey (archived)