Mike Milbury Michael James Milbury ( born June 17 , 1952 in Brighton , Massachusetts ) is an American Sportscaster . He is a former Defenseman for the Boston Bruins . He later served as assistant general manager under Harry Sinden and head coach of Boston , as well as GM and coach of the New York Islanders . Biography . Colgate University . Milbury played college ice hockey for Colgate University before signing a professional contract with the hometown Boston Bruins of the NHL in 1972 / 73 . He played for for the Bruins in the 1976 Stanley Cup playoffs and later represented the United States team at the inaugural 1976 Canada Cup . National Hockey League . Boston Bruins . Over eleven seasons , Milbury played 754 games as a defenseman for the Bruins . He is well known for an incident which occurred on December 23 , 1979 , in a game against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden . Milbury followed his teammates into the stands during a brawl and took a spectator ' s shoe off . He then used the shoe to beat the spectator . He became head coach of the Boston Bruins in the 1989 – 90 season , leading the team to the Presidents Trophy and an appearance in the Stanley Cup finals . He was named Executive of the Year by the Sporting News . He was the head coach of the Wales Conference team at the 1991 All - Star Game , where he generated some controversy by including enforcer Chris Nilan and checker Brian Skrudland ahead of players such as Kirk Muller and Guy Lafleur . However , Nilan and Skrudland both missed the game due to injury . As a result of Milbury ' s controversial roster picks , the league ' s Board of Governors changed their policy so that future teams would be chosen by committee . New York Islanders . He is a well - known figure in the National Hockey League for his controversial ( and often quotable ) style , as well as for his penchant for blockbuster trades . During several of the years that Milbury served as Islanders GM , the team ' s ownership mandated that he operate the team on an austere budget . In 1999 he was forced to trade star scorer Zigmund Palffy because team owners no longer wanted to pay his multi - million dollar contract . However , Milbury has also been criticized for the many decisions he made in which payroll or orders for upper management were not factors . Many young players and prospects that Milbury traded away went on to have distinguished careers , often eclipsing those of the players he received in return . He has traded away defensemen Zdeno Chara , Wade Redden , Bryan Berard , Eric Brewer , Darius Kasparaitis , and Bryan McCabe ; goalies Roberto Luongo and Tommy Salo , as well as forwards Olli Jokinen , Todd Bertuzzi , Raffi Torres . Milbury has also come under fire for his draft day decisions such as choosing Rick DiPietro first overall in 2000 over Dany Heatley and Marian Gaborik ; as well as his decision to include the 2001 second overall draft pick ( Jason Spezza ) as part of the Alexei Yashin trade . In June 2006 , Milbury stepped down as Islanders GM to accept a position as Senior Vice President of Charles Wang ' s sports holdings . In an appearance on " Mike and the Mad Dog " , Wang did not challenge a suggestion from the hosts that he " fired " Milbury . Milbury resigned from his Senior VP job in May 2007 . He said that he missed making hockey - related decisions and would be open to a hockey operations job in another organization . Television work . American networks NESN and NBC , and TSN in Canada hired Milbury as an analyst for the 07 / 08 season . In July 2008 Milbury signed a 2 year contract with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ' s " Hockey Night in Canada " .