"BOB Hartley, fired by the Thrashers for, among other transgressions, his failure to use young players (cough, cough, Braydon Coburn), is interviewing for the Islanders' head-coaching job, and what's wrong with this picture?

John Tortorella, who will have his pick of jobs once coaches of contenders begin going down this winter, is talking today to the Islanders about their vacancy, and what's that all about?

This is the time for the Islanders to go young behind the bench just as they're committed to going young on the ice. This is the time for CEO Charles Wang and GM Garth Snow to not only accept, but to embrace the proposition that bottoming out into a favorable Entry Draft lottery position is the most beneficial course for the franchise.

Hartley would have no interest whatsoever in such a scenario, neither would Tortorella, and neither would Paul Maurice, another established coach on Snow's initial wish list.

If Snow is interviewing Hartley, Tortorella and Maurice in order to elicit their opinions on the Islanders' personnel, more power to him. Knowledge is always valuable. But if he's interviewing them as legitimate candidates to succeed Ted Nolan, he's making a serious mistake.

Winning and developing players are not mutually exclusive propositions in sports. Teams can have their champagne and drink it, too. But these Islanders will not be well served by continuing on their treadmill to a spot between 16th and 20th overall.

There's no upside whatsoever in being stuck in the middle, and anyone who believes a veteran coach will be able to squeeze more out of his personnel than Nolan did the last two years must also believe that, a) Wang is uninvolved in matters traditionally left to the people in the hockey department and, b) goaltender-for-life Rick DiPietro wasn't involved in the decision to change coaches."