It didn't take Scott Gordon long to show why Islanders' GM Garth Snow chose him as the team's new coach. Gordon is articulate, serious minded and focused on the task at hand. He outlined a plan for the team which included player accountability, instilling confidence, pressuring opponents and playing a speedy game.

The Islanders are in the midst of a long term rebuilding plan. Certainly, they want to win games now, but when Snow announced the team's youth movement this offseason, he said part of the reason was that the franchise was tired of "being average." While the Isles have made the playoffs in four of the last six seasons, they have not won a postseason series since 1993 when Al Arbour was in his second stint as coach.

When the Isles failed to re-sign Ryan Smyth despite offering him more money than other teams, Snow realized he was going to have difficulty bringing top free agents to Long Island. So, the decision was made to build through the draft. Trading down to get extra picks this year was one part of the team's new strategy. Hiring a coach who could help develop the team's young prospects was another. Scott Gordon fits that mold very well.

The new coach inherits a roster filled with younger players who the Islanders will be relying on heavily like Jeff Tambellini, Blake Comeau and Kyle Okposo. The roster is also sprinkled with veterans like Mike Sillinger, Doug Weight and Bill Guerin who are there to steady the ship and teach the younger players what it takes to play and win in the NHL. The team is still built around goalie Rick DiPietro, one of the few players on the team's roster currently in the prime of his career.

Gordon has a very strong track record. He has been a winner as a coach everywhere he has gone. Although he was the only candidate interviewed by Snow who lacked NHL experience, Gordon never viewed this as something that would hinder his candidacy.

"I never looked at it as being a disadvantage," Gordon said. "I looked at it as, with a young team and my experience in Providence, maybe that could be a strength for me."

Gordon explained that the Bruins' organization told him they wanted their minor league team to finish roughly 10 games over .500 and make the playoffs each year. At first, that frustrated him because it would make his job harder, but he soon realized that in the long run, it would make his team better and it would make him a better coach.

"It forces players to deal with adversity," Gordon said at his introductory press conference at the Nassau Coliseum. "Things are not going to be great all the time. You have to find a way to allow yourself to become better through adversity."

He also talked about teaching young players to pay the price for victory. Gordon recalled a story Wayne Gretzky told him about the Oilers just after their 1983 Stanley Cup finals loss to the Islanders, the Isles' fourth and final championship and Edmonton's first-ever trip the finals. When passing by the Islanders' dressing room, Gretzky expected to see the Islanders celebrating. Instead, he saw the team putting ice and bandages on its bruises and welts. The young Oilers, he recalled, didn't have a scratch on them.

The first thing Gordon wants to establish with the Islanders is confidence. "We must have the belief that we can win the Stanley Cup and to do that, you have to believe you can win every game. Whatever the situation, you go into that game believing you can win." A prime example he gave was last year's New York Giants football team who went on a playoff role and upset the previously unbeaten Patriots to win the Super Bowl.

From a practical standpoint, Gordon said he envisions his team playing a tight, defensive system but with an aggressive fore-check and with an emphasis on speed. "I want our team to play with aggression," he said. "I want our team to make the other team be pressured into situations where they don't want to play with the puck, they'll want to get rid of it."

As an ex-goalie himself, Gordon is also in a good position to deal with Rick DiPietro to determine how many games the Isles' starting goalie should start. In each of the past two seasons, DP had to end his year early because of injuries. The team's franchise netminder has 13 years left on his record-setting contract and he is the centerpiece of the franchise right now. While he didn't have a specific number of games in mind just yet, the rookie coach indicated "There has to be a dialogue," and said he would look at the big picture and try to optimize his goalie's abilities. It is unlikely the rivalry between BU (DiPietro's alma mater) and BC (Gordon's former school) will interfere with their working relationship.

Gordon acknowledged that the team needed to improve it's power play and that there would be changes in the defensive system as compared to a season ago. He also knows that he will need a little time to acclimate himself to the NHL. Still, he came across as a no-nonsense guy who needs to know what's going on and holds himself to the same level of responsibility and hard work as he holds his players to.

It will probably take Scott Gordon a while to adjust to life in the NHL. And it will probably take the Islanders some time before their youth movement pays off and they can hope to rejoin the league's elite. Gordon told reporters he views this job as "a tremendous opportunity" and added that "there is light at the end of the tunnel." For now, all he has to do is show that he has the team headed in the right direction. And all Garth Snow has to do is help supply him with the players he needs to help get them there.