Maven's Memories: Remembering Coach Terry Simpson

When it comes to coaching in the National Hockey League nobody ever had a more daunting challenge than Terry Simpson.

He had to follow Al Arbour's act.

And if you don't believe me, then, well, take the Maven's word for it.

I was there for Radar's debut in 1973 and right through his coaching the Dynastic Isles. And I was there when Bill Torrey announced Arbour's successor in 1986.

To stay the least, Bow Tie Bill's choice of Terry Simpson was a stunner.

For starters, Simpson never had coached in the NHL before. He had no prior major league experience yet he was being asked to lead the likes of Hall of Famers such as Bryan Trottier, Billy Smith and Denis Potvin. 

Why Simpson?

"I wanted a fresh approach," Bow Tie Bill explained. 

Along with Arbour's voluntary exit into a "Player Development" gig, Torrey fired Brian Kilrea who had been Al's aide for two seasons. In hiring Simpson, Torrey bypassed such aspirants as ex-Islander Terry Crisp and Fred Creighton who was coaching the Isles farm team in Indianapolis.

"It wasn't as if Simpson didn't have any experience," said captain Denis Potvin. "Terry was big in Junior Hockey -- very big!"

Ten years of bigness to be exact. A native of Brantford, Ontario -- Wayne Gretzky's home town -- Simpson played one season of pro hockey for the Jacksonville Rockets and then turned to coaching.

The Easterner moved west, getting a gig in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. The Raiders played in the fast Western Hockey League which bred such famed Islanders as Duane and Brent Sutter as well as Clark Gillies, Bob Bourne and Chico Resch, a native of Regina, Saskatchewan.

"Out West -- on the prairies," said Resch, "hockey is big and nothing is bigger than the Junior game. Torrey must have figured that if Terry could succeed there, he'd be worth a try in the NHL."

Simpson had good reason to remain in Prince Albert because he kept turning out winners as easy as exhaling. In 10 years with the Raiders he led the team to seven straight Anavet Cups and four Manitoba Centennial Cup titles. 

Resch: "On the Junior level, the biggest deal of all is the Memorial Cup. It's emblematic of 

the Canadian Junior championship. Coach a team to the Memorial -- and then win it -- says something about a guy; and Terry did just that."

It was 1985 that the Raiders took the Memorial and it was then that the Islanders had plenty of scouts west of Ontario. They had seen enough of the 42 Simpson to give a thumbs up on his chances to succeed in The Show.

When Torrey announced that Simpson would be head coach with retired Bob Nystrom as his assistant, we in the media were disarmed by Simpson's laconic response to his biggest challenge.

"I'm like anybody else," Terry told the reporters. "I'm a good coach if I've got good players. I'm a bad coach if I have bad players. The players are the ones who actually make or break you and the scouting staff gets the players."

Not that Simpson was lacking talent. Four-time Cup-winners Bill Smith, Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy and Denis Potvin still were effective.

"I was excited about the new coach," said Bossy. "Granted that we weren't among the elite anymore but there was a thrill to starting over."

Simpson couldn't have been thrilled when Torrey told him that four-time Cup champs Clark Gillies and Bob Bourne had been left unprotected in the waiver draft. Bourne was taken by the Kings and Gillies by the Sabres.

"Terry walked into a rebuild," Bossy asserted, "and this rebuild was inevitable."

What wasn't "inevitable" was Simpson -- and Nystrom's as well -- decision to break up close pas Trottier and Bossy as roommates. This didn't sit well with the future Hall of Famers.

Bossy: "To be honest, Trots and I thought it was ridiculous that we were broken up in the first place."

Another time Simpson angered Mike by replacing him with Duane Sutter before a final minute face-off with the Isles ahead and Flyers goalie Ron Hextall pulled for an extra skater. After the game Bossy confronted Simpson head on and was dissatisfied with the coach's rationale:

"I just want to see every player in every kind of situation."

Meanwhile, Bossy's back ailment was worsening with no help in sight. Fortunately, Torrey still had enough depth on the team so that the Isles remained in the playoff race. At the March 1987 trade deadline Torrey declined offers for Bossy and labelled Brent Sutter, Pat LaFontaine and Patrick Flatley near-untouchables.

The stoic Simpson had succeeded in keeping the Islanders competitive. He led them club to an acceptable 35-33-12 record over the regular season. No less important was Terry's ability to maintain the Isles tradition of miraculous playoff performances.

"We went up against Washington," recalled Pat LaFontaine, "and played our best when our backs were against the wall. We were down in the series, three games to one but still hung in there."

This was Simpson's first major NHL crisis and he never panicked despite playing Game Five without the injured Bossy, Brent Sutter and Denis Potvin. Young Kelly Hrudey in goal put on a clutch performance and the Nassaumen won Game Five on the road, 4-2.

Now that the veterans were sidelined, Simpson turned to young LaFontaine to be the leader. Patty -- along with youthful Mikko Makela combined for three goals in a five-minute span late in the second period for a 5-4 win which tied the series at three wins apiece.

Or, as one Islanders historian put it, "The Islanders set the stage for what would arguably become the greatest game in franchise history."

Debate or not, Game Seven at Capital Centre in Landover certified Torrey's choice of Simpson as the right man to coach the time. Still without his big gun Bossy, Brent Sutter and Potvin -- not to mention other injured warriors -- his skaters battled through the adversity.

Watching from the runway near the Islanders dressing room, Bossy later concluded, "It was one of the greatest games I've ever seen."

It started innocently enough at 7:35 p.m. on Saturday night and ended at 1:58 a.m. on Easter Sunday morning. Playing before a standing room only home crowd, the Capitals were favored but the Orange and Blue would not be denied. 

A late third period goal by Trottier tied the game and sent it through three remarkable overtime periods without a decision. In the fourth overtime, the exhausted stickhandlers exchanged chances past the eight-minute mark of the latest sudden death session. 

Juggling his lineup, Simpson had Gord Dineen and Ken Leiter on defense with Dale Henry up front when the coach designated LaFontaine to get over the boards. 

LaFontaine: "I jumped on the ice, but I stayed high because I noticed that Dineen pinched in deep. Henry was set up in front of their crease, screening their goalie (Bob Mason) so when I got the puck I just turned around and gave it my best shot."

Bossy: "It ticked off the post and went in. I said to myself, 'OH, BOY!'"

It proved to be Simpson's finest hour although his second best was leading his club to a seven-game series in the second playoff round before Philadelphia prevailed in Game Seven.

A season later Simpson again pushed his team to a playoff season. They finished first in the Patrick Division with a record of 39-31-10 for 88 points. But an upstart New Jersey Devils team knocked them out of the opening round in six games.

After 27 contests in 1988-89 the club was a dismal 7-18-2. Simpson was fired on December 6, 1988 and replaced by Al Arbour. Terry was a good man but, in the end, the circumstances of following Radar's act was too much of a challenge.