New York Islanders: Current state of team shows how good Bill Torrey was

New York Islanders legend Bill Torrey passed away at the admirable age of 83. With the current state of the franchise as gloomy as it is, it shows just how good of a GM he was.

First off, all condolences go out to the Torrey family and the New York Islanders family after this horrible news. But the thing about people passing away is that it makes time to discuss their legacy.

Bill Torrey cemented one of the largest, most impactful legacies of anyone in the Islanders organization. If you were around to remember all those teams of the 1980s then you know how good of an “architect” Torrey was because you saw it.

If you were not, that is still okay because the current state of the franchise also shows how good he was. But look at the Islanders the last 20 years, there might not even be a handful of things to boast about.

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The team has accomplished next to nothing and when things seem to be going better, they end up going much worse. This happens in sports and that is what makes us lose sleep over them sometimes. However, the Islanders quick rise to an elite, historic level in the 80s to their quick, painful fall to irrelevancy show us all how truly good Mr. Torrey was at his job.

To look at this team, as it right now, all factors included, and think this organization once won 19 straight playoff series, six straight conference titles, four championships, and boasted Hall of Famers you could give out like candy is almost unfathomable.

Torrey’s eye for talent, innovation, loyalty, and tenure is one in a million. Perhaps that is why the Islanders have not been able to replace him even a little bit yet. They had the best guy they could already. That is fine.

I am not trying to say Torrey is one of those “you don’t know what you got until it’s gone” kind of stories, it is far from that. His spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame and the rafters of every Isles home game for eternity show they know what they had.

But sometimes, it takes being gone to truly understand how valuable someone is. It would be a shame if I did not honor Torrey’s legacy by praising him.

But with how inept the Islanders are right now, it makes it even so much more impressive how great they were.

It does not help that the opposite of Torrey, Garth Snow, has been breaking the fans hearts for 12 years now. Maybe a nice middle between the two will work.

However, Torrey set a standard of how this franchise should be running. Maybe we can even argue that standard has even been set unfairly high, but still, anything close to it will be successful.

Next: Five things the Isles did wrong in 2017-2018

I was born over ten years after the Islanders dynasty. I have never seen this team be any better than a fluke-ish one playoff series victory. However, that does not mean I do not understand how much Torrey has done for this team, the league, and his sport.

Now, through how bad things are, I know how good he must have been.

Rest easy Mr. Torrey! Thanks for giving this team literally the only things they have to be proud of.