Neil Smith 0 Charles Wang 1 Fans 1000000000000!

Neil Best in Newsday has a report from the Toronto Globe and Mail that was written on Wednesday regarding the lawsuit filed by Neil Smith against the Islanders after he was fired as GM of the team after 40 days.

David Shoalts of the Globe and Mail says that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is close to issuing a ruling in favor of the Islanders. Apparently, Smith's three-year contract was never signed. Another genius move by Smith...who it bears mentioning again in this space is no rocket scientist. Seriously, if Smith's accumen for team-building was respected around the league then he would have had another GM job by now. This is not a Ted Nolan situation. Neil Smith may have succeeded with the Rangers in spite of himself. You all really need to read the book Barry Meisel wrote after the Ranger meltdown in the mid-nineties to get a feeling for what a whiner and malcontent Smith was when he worked with Mike Keenan. There's a reason Keenan was able to run roughshod in that organization and it is because he smelled blood in the water with Neil Smith and like any shark, he got aggressive when he felt he could do so without retribution.