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As we all sat huddled around a television set on a Saturday night, waiting for the lottery numbers, it was at that moment that I realized that we are all -- finally -- our grandparents.
But this went beyond watching in anticipation of the one percent chance the Boston Bruins had at landing the first overall pick in this year’s starstudded draft down in Sunrise, Fla.. That moment instead hit me when I found myself talking -- borderline yelling, even -- at the TV when Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, in his usual Saturday headlines spot of rapid-fire collection of news and rumors from around the NHL with Damien Cox, talked about the Bruins. But it was without good reason though, I assure you.
It was Friedman, as if holding back laughter, that noted that
Mike Milbury is a person you could and will hear connected to the Bruins if the Black and Gold, still in search of a general manager to replace the recently fired Peter Chiarelli, do in fact fire head coach
Claude Julien this summer.
Yikes.
Milbury, of course, has tons of ties to Boston. Not only is he from Massachusetts, but he spent his entire 754-game NHL career with the Bruins from 1976 to 1987. Those 754 contests put him at 13th on the Bruins’ all-time games played list, and his 1,552 minutes in penalties over that stretch are second in franchise history (Milbury’s teammate Terry O’Reilly holds the record with 2,095 minutes in penalties). The Brighton, Mass. native even coached the B’s for two seasons from 1989 to 1991, leading the club to the Stanley Cup Final in his first year before bowing out in the third-round the following season.
After his various tenures with the Spoked-B, Milbury moved on to the New York Islanders, where he was behind the bench and in the front office for one of the absolute biggest disasters in league history, probably. (And that goes beyond the whole John Spano thing, really.) Under Milbury’s guidance, the Islanders traded away countless future All-Stars (including current Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara), and Milbury’s constant movement from head coach to general manager ultimately became his downfall.
But now, 16 years after his last head coaching gig and after nine years out of working for an NHL team in any sort of authoritative capacity, Milbury’s name is gaining momentum in Boston.
This is… I… I just can’t.
At 63 years old, a return to the NHL would Milbury would match Ken Hitchcock as the oldest coach in the league, and would come a decade and a half after his last coaching gig, a 45-game stint for the 1998-99 Islanders that came with just 13 wins before Milbury opted to return to the GM role.
It just wouldn’t make any sense in the world.
But there are present-day connections between Milbury and the Bruins, too. B’s president
Cam Neely was a player for Milbury during his two-year stint as head coach, and had a first-hand experience at the coaching style he could bring. And Milbury, as crazy as it sounds, was in contention for the Boston job the last time it came around, back in 2007 (albeit as a longshot candidate, I’d imagine).
Still, though just a rumor at this point in time, is terrifying to wrap your head around.
Honestly, I think Milbury had his moments in this league at a head coach, and hell, he may have even won a Stanley Cup had it not been for the Bruins running into the Edmonton Oilers back in ‘90. But the game has changed so, so much since Milbury stepped away from coaching in ‘99. I mean, it’s tough for guys that have been on the sidelines for five years to come back and find success, let alone 16.
And to think you’d let Julien, a coach that’s brought the Black and Gold to four 100-point seasons and two Stanley Cup Finals in just eight seasons, to bring Milbury in is an impossible sell to most.
Milbury has tried to remain quiet on this potential opportunity (as quiet as Milbury can be), but did admit that he’d ‘
strongly consider’ returning to coaching if the Bruins do indeed come knocking this summer.
Perhaps this is just my fear of Milbury beating me with my own shoe during his introductory press conference when he finds out who I am, but I think he should stick to his role with NBC. He has a good thing going on there, and is carving out his niche as the American version of Don Cherry. And it’s a lighter schedule complete with trips to the Stanley Cup Final every season, there’s not a whole lot of pressure. Or a whole lot less than there is with coaching in the NHL, anyways. But if the Bruins are hellbent on the idea of becoming harder to play against (or harder to play for if you’re a free agent) and bringing a powerful voice in their locker room, Milbury’s bark behind the bench certainly fits the bill.
Again: Yikes.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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