The Islanders won’t renew normal supervisor Lou Lamoriello’s contract, the crew announced Tuesday. Minority proprietor John Collins will lead the seek for a brand new GM on Lengthy Island.
It’s not clear who will deal with interim GM duties for the Isles in the event that they don’t have a brand new GM in place by the draft. For now, Chris Lamoriello (Lou’s son) and Steve Pellegrini stay of their roles as assistant normal managers and can presumably deal with any minor strikes or re-signings till a brand new prime hockey operations decision-maker is appointed.
One of many longest-serving and most achieved executives in league historical past, Lamoriello’s tenure with the Islanders ends after seven seasons. They introduced him in in the course of the 2018 offseason after his contract to function GM of the Maple Leafs expired, initially simply as president of hockey operations. He rapidly fired then-GM Garth Snow and appointed himself within the position.
The early phases of Lamoriello’s time on the helm had been an unequivocal success. He poached head coach Barry Trotz from the reigning Stanley Cup champion Capitals, a call that instantly helped put the Isles again within the postseason after lacking out for 2 years. Trotz received Coach of the 12 months honors in 2018-19 because the Islanders rattled off 48 wins, their most in a season since successful 50 video games in 1983-84, and swept the Penguins within the first spherical. Whereas they didn’t advance to the Convention Finals, they might accomplish that in 2020 and 2021, taking the eventual Stanley Cup champion Lightning to 6 and 7 video games, respectively.
Within the 4 seasons that adopted, the Islanders have received simply three playoff video games, together with two first-round losses to the Hurricanes (2023, 2024). They completed with a .500 document this season and missed the playoffs, failing to safe extra wins than regulation losses for the primary time in Lamoriello’s tenure. They’ve additionally now didn’t win at the least 40 video games in back-to-back 82-game seasons since 2010-11 and 2011-12.
It’s not as if Lamoriello’s successor is strolling right into a five-alarm fireplace on the Island, however there’s a lot work to do that summer season. Chief amongst a protracted listing of to-dos is a brand new contract for No. 1 defenseman Noah Dobson, who’s an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent this summer season. Most of their different defenders don’t have offers for subsequent season — solely Scott Mayfield, Adam Pelech, and Ryan Pulock are signed for 2025-26 amongst rearguards who ended the yr on the energetic roster. There was reported progress on a contract extension for his or her prime pending UFA, Kyle Palmieri, but it surely’s unclear how the GM change will have an effect on talks there.
One factor is evident — the Islanders’ new GM will come from outdoors the group. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet experiences the Islanders received’t be making any teaching modifications or hockey operations workers alterations till the brand new rent is in place. They’ll have a say in figuring out the way forward for head coach Patrick Roy, his workers and the remainder of the entrance workplace.
Lamoriello was already the oldest-serving NHL GM in historical past at age 82. Whether or not it’s the top of the highway for him after a 38-year run in NHL entrance workplaces with New Jersey, Toronto and New York stays to be seen. It’s virtually definitely his final GM position, however a senior advisor position someplace could also be of curiosity.
