More the Islanders change, more they stay the same

Next time, Neil Smith will probably pay more attention to the actual job description.

Especially if it says: "Wanted -- someone we can call general manager without providing the requisite authority."

Neil Smith was fired less than six weeks after taking the Isles GM job. (Getty Images)

Perhaps Smith -- back in the game after six years on the sideline -- assumed he'd be able to assert himself after joining the New York Islanders in early June. But in the wake of his dismissal this week, it's clear he never stood a chance.

He had a title, and that will be worth something in a buyout. But in an administrative structure that was untenable from the outset, he lacked the latitude to operate as he thought he could or should.

Having spent 11 years navigating the political waters of the New York Rangers and their parent companies' organizations, Smith probably should have known better. He was dealing with the New York Islanders after all, an organization that always seems to find a way of becoming a punch line.

The first red flag went up when owner Charles Wang, who seems intent on giving new meaning to the team "hands-on owner," hired Ted Nolan as coach. The move came before Wang hired Smith, violating an unwritten rule about allowing a new GM to pick his coach.

But the bigger warning sign for Smith should have been the continued involvement of Mike Milbury in the hierarchy.

Milbury was presumably relieved of his duties as Islanders general manager last season, giving up the job he'd held since 1996, a tenure in which the franchise was often seen as a league-wide joke.

But he just didn't go away.

"Mad Mike" was simply bumped upstairs to become president of the company that runs the Islanders, Wang's Arena Football League team and a minor-league hockey franchise. That was Milbury's reward for managing the Islanders during a period when they missed the playoffs six times in 10 seasons and failed to win a round when they did get in. The Isles also went through six coaches and a couple of unsavory previous owners, one of whom ended up in jail and another who is headed there.

As GM, Milbury traded away the talents of Zdeno Chara, Roberto Luongo, Wade Redden, Olli Jokinen and Todd Bertuzzi and bypassed future stars like Dany Heatley, Marian Gaborik and Jason Spezza in the draft. Milbury can also claim fame for giving Alexei Yashin the most absurd contract in NHL history, a nutzo 10-year pact after the center once refused to honor an existing deal in Ottawa.

Beyond that, Milbury drew the wrath of fans on Long Island who openly called for his dismissal over the last few years. Yet instead of getting dumped, he just faded further into the background.

At least he was further from the public view. Since Wang made no immediate effort to replace him as GM, Milbury continued to act in that position after the January change. He made deals at the trade deadline and he was effectively in charge for much of the planning leading into the draft.