“He’s a new voice.”MIKE MILBURY
PITTSBURGH – The Islanders have won a game for their new coach, but they haven’t seen the real Bill Stewart. Not yet.
Stewart, the AHL Coach of the Year last season, admitted he has had to hold back as one of Mike Milbury’s six assistants.
But he let loose last night, his first as an NHL head coach, and his team responded with a 5-2 thumping of the Penguins at the Igloo.
‘He’s a new voice,” said Milbury, who returns to his GM-only role as he should have last summer. “There’s a big difference as soon as you get that title. He actually said to me he thought he was a lousy assistant coach because he couldn’t open up the way he wanted to. I disagree with him. I thought he brought a lot to table, but I knew from where he was coming. He’s anxious to move ahead. He’s aggressive, straightforward, no-nonsense.”
‘I’m not for rah-rah,” Stewart said. “I’m about results.”
Stewart admitted he told Milbury during their interview he wasn’t sure he would make a good assistant. That’s because of his desire to be in control and in-your-face. But Stewart, the team’s defensive coordinator, tried to lay low.
‘Anytime you have responsibility of head coach you have to wear a different hat,” Stewart said. “Instead of making suggestions, you’re making decisions.”
When Stewart joined the staff, he signed a two-year deal at roughly $140,000 per. it is believed he will get a raise to about $250,000 per, although contract negotiations were ongoing yesterday.
Stewart, who nearly was offered the Florida job last summer, was considered one of the bright, young coaching candidates. As a rookie AHL coach, he led the St. John Flames to a 43-24-13 record last season and to a berth in the Calder Cup Final, improving 27 points in the standings.
Before that, the former eight-year NHL defenseman who played with four teams (Buffalo, St. Louis, Toronto and Minnesota) coached junior hockey in the OHL and was named the Coach of the Year in 1995-96 in the rag-tag Colonial League. “It was good to be in that league,” Stewart said. ‘If you can motivate those players who aren’t going to the NHL, it’s good.”
Milbury said promoting associate coach Lorne Henning wasn’t a consideration. “I think I had that decision made the day the staff was put in place,” Milbury said. “I felt Lorne could handle the team in my absence, but long-term i always felt Bill would be the guy if there was a change. Rightly or wrongly, he’s a no-nonsense kind of a guy who will leave a strong impact. I felt from first day he was on board, if something went awry, the organization would have a real good guy in place.”
