- Bill Torrey
William A. Torrey (born
June 23 ,1934 inMontreal ,Quebec ,Canada ) was a General Manager and executive in theNational Hockey League , most famous for building up the expansionNew York Islanders into a dynasty that won four consecutiveStanley Cup s. He is known as "Bow-Tie" Bill, after the signaturebow tie he always wore.Oakland Seals
Bill Torrey began his
hockey career in the AHL in the mid 1960's, but his talent soon landed him a job as Vice-President of theOakland Seals , a recently created expansion team in the NHL. Torrey quickly forged a reputation as a shrewd executive, and his deals propelled the Seals from laughingstock to playoff contenders in his 2 plus seasons in Oakland. He quickly soured on the experience, however, due to constant interference provided by ownerCharlie Finley . Finley had a reputation of flamboyance, insisting his teams wore white skates and trying to convince the NHL to start using orange pucks. More importantly, Finley and Torrey clashed on issues ranging from personnel moves to marketing, and Torrey left the organization in 1971.New York Islanders
In 1972, the expansion
New York Islanders hired Torrey as their General Manager. The organization's first employee, Torrey was given the formidable job of building the organization from scratch, in the shadows of the much more establishedNew York Rangers . He added the title of vice president in 1973.Rather than trade for veteran players in hopes of winning right away, Torrey was committed to building through the draft. He felt that pursuing a "win now" strategy didn't make sense in the long run.
In the Islanders' first two seasons, the team finished last in the league. However, those dreadful records netted them high picks in the draft. With those picks, Torrey quickly assembled a roster that rose from a doormat to an NHL power. It culminated in 1980, when the Islanders became the second-fastest team to win the
Stanley Cup , in only their eighth season of existence. Under Torrey, the Islanders won 6Patrick Division titles, made five consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup finals, and won four Cups in a row. His clubs had 14 consecutive winning seasons, from 1975–1988.Along the way, he picked future Hall of Fame goalie
Billy Smith in the team's original expansion draft, drafted five Hall of Fame players--Denis Potvin ,Clark Gillies ,Bryan Trottier ,Mike Bossy , andPat Lafontaine --in the entry draft. He also hired as head coachAl Arbour , another Hall of Famer and winner of four Cups as a player.After helping minority owner John Pickett, Jr. buy the franchise in 1979, Torrey was promoted to team president. In 1989, he added the title of chairman of the board.
Key Transactions
Right after Torrey drafted
Denis Potvin first overall in the 1973 entry draft,Montreal Canadiens General ManagerSam Pollock approached Torrey, hoping to trade for Potvin. Pollock's strategy was to offer a "quick-fix" package of mature players to exchange for the top draft pick, and it was tempting as the Islanders would immediately benefit from the trade. Torrey ultimately turned down the offer. Within several years Potvin blossomed into one of the NHL's elite defencemen and eventually became captain of the team.In the
1977 NHL Amateur Draft , Torrey had the 15th pick and had to make a tough decision betweenMike Bossy and another forward. Bossy was known as a scorer who couldn't check, while the other forward could check but wasn't very good offensively. CoachAl Arbour persuaded Torrey to pick Bossy, figuring it was easier to teach a scorer how to check. Bossy immediately emerged as one of the league's elite snipers in his first season, in which he set a then-NHL record with 53 goals as a rookie. Bossy achieved nine consecutive 50-goal seasons, as well as also having strong defensive skillsFact|date=June 2007 not commonly seen in other prominent forwards.In 1980, after the Islanders had underachieved in the playoffs for the past few years despite success in the regular season, Torrey made the difficult decision to trade longtime and popular veterans Billy Harris and Dave Lewis to the
Los Angeles Kings in return forButch Goring . The trade is acknowledged as bringing in the "final piece of the puzzle": Goring was pivotal to the team's first Stanley Cup championship win and went on to win theConn Smythe Trophy for the Islanders' second championship in 1981.After star
Pat LaFontaine demanded a trade and held out for the start of the 1991–92 season, Torrey engineered a rebuilding project. He dealt Lafontaine,Randy Wood , andRandy Hillier (along with future considerations) to theBuffalo Sabres in return forPierre Turgeon ,Benoit Hogue ,Uwe Krupp , and Dave McLlwain. He also sentBrent Sutter andBrad Lauer to theChicago Blackhawks forSteve Thomas andAdam Creighton . The trades paid dividends in 1992–93 season where the Islanders' made a surprise playoff run to the Wales Conference Finals. They defeated the higher seededWashington Capitals and the defending championsPittsburgh Penguins before falling to theMontreal Canadiens , who went on to win the Cup. Turgeon himself hit career highs in goals and points and won theLady Byng Trophy .However, Torrey was not around to see this rebuilding bear fruit. Pickett had turned over day-to-day control to a management committee of four minority owners, and they weren't nearly as patient as Boe and Pickett had been before. After the Islanders missed the playoffs in 1992, Torrey was forced to resign.
Florida Panthers
Not long after being forced out in
Long Island , Torrey was named president and general manager of theFlorida Panthers , a new expansion team, in 1993. Torrey built his new team similarly to the Islanders, and within three years, the Panthers were in theStanley Cup finals. He retired in 2001.Honors
Torrey was elected to the
Hockey Hall of Fame in 1995. He is honored with a banner inNassau Coliseum along withAl Arbour and six of the players he drafted. While the players have their jersey numbers retired and arbour has a similar banner with the number 739, the number of regular season victories his Islanders teams earned, Torrey's banner has the words "The Architect" and the image of a bowtie.In 2001, he was inducted into the
Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame .
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