Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

The Florida Panthers And New York Islanders Are Intertwined

04/14/2016 at 8:46am EDT

from Mark Herrmann of Newsday,

There might not be as many mixed emotions between the two teams, but there sure have been a lot of crossed paths. Islanders Hall of Fame goalie Billy Smith once was the Panthers goalie coach. His former teammate Duane Sutter was the Panthers head coach for parts of two seasons.

Like Torrey’s Islanders, the Panthers earned phenomenal early success. The former reached the Stanley Cup semifinals in their third season, the latter made it to the Stanley Cup Final in their third season—with a roster that included former Islanders Tom Fitzgerald and Mark Fitzpatrick. Torrey, having been ousted by a new Islanders management group in 1992, had something to prove and he (and general manager Bobby Clarke and coach Roger Neilson) assembled a group of players that felt the same way.

“They were gritty, two-way players. It was like a team of Selke candidates,” former Islanders and Panthers public relations director Greg Bouris said, referring to the league’s top award for defensive play. Bouris, who was one of the first people Torrey hired for the Florida team and who now is director of communications for the Major League Baseball Players Association, said, “Previous expansion teams didn’t have a lot of players to choose from, the way the Panthers and Ducks did. There were some real players available in that draft.”

Unlike Torrey’s Islanders, though, Torrey’s Panthers never won four Cups, or even one. A big reason is that in Florida, he never had a young Hall of Fame cornerstone like Denis Potvin. At least not on the ice. Potvin was the Panthers’ TV analyst for their first 16 seasons, did Ottawa Senators games for four years and is back now.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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