Following two additional seasons with St. Louis, he was recruited by GM Bill Torrey to take over a young New York Islanders team that had set a then-NHL record for futility by winning only 12 games in their inaugural season, 1972–73.
Bill Torrey began his hockey career in the AHL in the mid-1960s, with the Pittsburgh Hornets, but his talent soon landed him a job as Vice-President of the Oakland Seals, a recently created expansion team in the NHL.
Resch was one of the key players from the Islanders' 1979 first place team who left the team or had their roles relegated; before the end of the 1980 regular season, General Manager Bill Torrey had traded away longtime and popular veterans Billy Harris and Dave Lewis to the Los Angeles Kings in return for Butch Goring.
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