Source: Islanders to name Neil Smith GM, Ted Nolan coach

0 Comments | Philadelphia Daily News, June, 2006 | by Staff and Wire Services

Neil Smith built one champion in New York, now he'll try to do it again.

Smith, who constructed the New York Rangers championship team that ended a 54-year Stanley Cup wait in 1994, will be introduced as the general manager of the New York Islanders, a source told the Associated Press last night.

The Islanders also hired Ted Nolan to lead the team from behind the bench, the person said. The official announcement is expected today.

Smith was GM for the Rangers from 1989 to 2000, and has been out of the NHL since being fired by the Rangers, working as a television analyst.

Nolan, 47, last coached in the NHL in 1997. He won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in his last season with Buffalo, but he and the Sabres parted ways following a contract...