All the talk throughout training camp was that Scott
Gordon, with his new system, was going to have to do a lot of teaching in his first year as the coach of the Islanders. No argument there. Fact is, though, he also is going to have to do a lot of learning.
He became a fast learner Friday night of just what he's in for.
One official day into the job and he was forced to make the kind of decision that makes or breaks coaches. Should he play the franchise player?
The choice was a fairly resounding no, although it wasn't public until just before game time that goalie Rick DiPietro, the cornerstone of anything the Islanders are trying to build for more than a decade ahead, would sit out Opening Night.
"Like I told Ricky, 'Whatever we do, whether you play or you don't play, we want to do what's best for you. We want you to feel comfortable with whatever you think you should do, what the doctor thinks you should do, what we think you should do, what the trainer thinks you should do,"' Gordon said after a 2-1 loss to the Devils at the Prudential Center. "I'm sure if you ask Ricky, he would have loved to have been in there tonight.
"But when we looked at everything, we talked about it. It was mutual," Gordon said. "It was probably the easiest decision I'll make as a coach."
This fellow is catching on in a hurry. Any Islanders coach does not get to make too many easy decisions. Gordon is wise enough to know that if the team had been running smoothly, he wouldn't be here. They would have kept the previous coach, who wrestled with the same conundrums.
It is no snap, for instance, trying to choose a line to send out there in the final minutes against one of the greatest goalies ever, Martin Brodeur, when you don't have a bunch of 50-goal scorers on your bench.
Gordon did fine Friday night, as did DiPietro's replacement, Joey MacDonald. In the words of the veteran Doug Weight, the only Islander to put one past Brodeur, it was tough playing without DiPietro, "But I think Mac was awesome. He kept us in there throughout the game."
MacDonald said he didn't know he was playing until after the morning skate, and it still wasn't 100 percent. His job is to be ready, no matter what the coach decides. And he has faith in Gordon, a former goalie.
"He's played the game, played the position," MacDonald said. "He knows what's going through the goaltender's head."
You could say it was a no-brainer for Gordon that DiPietro just isn't ready to play back-to-back games because he is coming off hip and knee surgeries and that the Islanders were saving him for the home opener Saturday against the Blues. Then again, who knows for sure?
DiPietro did not speak with the media, so he did not let anyone know whether he had had a setback or a tweak or if the ice pack that was seen on his knee was just part of his regular routine. Anyone who has watched the Islanders knows, though, that the coaching decisions don't get any easier. How much rest does DiPietro get and when does he get it? Do you play him against the best teams or do you play him against the weaker teams, when you have a better chance of winning?
Even without the All-Star goalie, Friday was a pretty typical Islanders game. They were competitive against an experienced and accomplished team, they created excitement (especially when Kyle Okposo had a penalty shot). They just couldn't finish.
"We're going to get better," said Weight, who had his NHL debut 17 years ago. "We're going to learn."
The coach is going to learn more and more that the decisions don't come easily.
