Hirings will ease Weight for Isles coach
It was during that slog of a franchise-record nine-game road trip from late January into February when Doug Weight, the Islanders’ interim head coach, realized he needed help.
Just over a month into his tenure, Weight was trying to do everything. While making room for individual meetings with his young group, he cut short his own film session for the upcoming opponent. Weight didn’t remember exactly what game it was, but he did remember that, when he got behind the bench, he “just didn’t like how I felt.”
“I didn’t watch the entire game, I kind of watched clips,” Weight told The Post over the phone recently, as he begins to assemble his new coaching staff after being named full-time head coach following a campaign in which the Islanders missed the postseason by one point. “I didn’t go out all night and not go to practice in the morning. My point was, I changed it a little bit, and I did it a little easier because I wanted to make sure I was doing the [individual meetings] as well as I could.
“Then I realized after that game, it was on that road trip, this is just not how I can do it. At that point, I knew I was going to need a little more assistance.”
Pretty much everything is on the table for the Islanders this offseason, a turning point in franchise history. They are scraping around to find a new arena and are coming up on a monumental negotiation with captain John Tavares, the star center who will be able to sign an extension starting July 1 before reaching free agency after next season.
Now, Weight is in charge of the coaching staff following the firing of longtime head coach Jack Capuano on Jan. 17. Assistant coach Bob Corkum was let go, and the status of another assistant, Greg Cronin, is still in question — although Weight said he would like Cronin back, but was not sure if it would be feasible.
Weight last week hired an old teammate from the Oilers, Luke Richardson, who is a veteran of 1,417 NHL games and spent the past four years as the head coach of AHL Binghamton, grooming many of the young players currently with the Senators in the Eastern Conference finals. It also has been reported that another friend from Weight’s Edmonton days, Kelly Buchberger, could join the staff following the NHL draft in late June, after Buchberger’s contract expires as a player development coach with the Oilers.
Scott Gomez, the recently retired former Devils and Rangers star, also is in the mix for a position.
Weight said he had interviewed “eight to 10” people, and if it seems as if he might be leaning towards people with extensive NHL playing experience — just like himself — that’s because he is.
“I’m not afraid to say it, it’s something I’m looking for and chasing,” Weight said. “But that being said, I’m not just hiring guys who play 15 years or 20 years. You have to sit with them, you have to see how they view the game, how they are, how they view the players, how I view the game.
“I think with your assistants, you need that trust in your guy,” Weight said. “I need the feeling that when I say something or when I delegate, I am 100 percent [confident] in their work ethic, their professionalism, their preparation.”