Fans who thought Lou Lamoriello’s inability to make some much-needed changes to his roster at the trade deadline would be his downfall can forget it. The veteran general manager who will be 82 years old by the time the 2024-25 season starts has already been told by ownership that he is staying in his post.
The same goes for bench boss Patrick Roy who was hired on Jan. 20. Since taking over from Lane Lambert, he led the New York Islanders to 20 wins, 12 losses, and five overtime or shootout losses. The 45 points gathered were enough to give the Islanders their ticket for the playoffs, but the postseason ended after five short playoff games. Here are my takeaways from the video published on the Islanders website.
What Lamoriello Had to Say
In a 15-minute media opportunity, Lamoriello and Roy fielded questions from journalists on various topics. Without even being asked about potential changes the offseason could bring, Lamoriello explained:
“To answer another question before you start, I get this all the time…What changes can and should take place? We’ll talk about it, we’ll talk about it together. We spend a lot of time together and we’ll come up with whatever is best, but we’re excited, I am anyway.”
To me, this means Roy will be involved in player personnel decisions. This will please him considering he walked out on the Colorado Avalanche because he didn’t have enough involvement in player personnel decisions (from ‘For Patrick Roy, battle over Avs personnel decisions was tipping point for resigning’, Denver Post, Aug. 11, 2016). Of course, it’s one thing to say this in a press conference, but it’s quite another to do it. If Lamoriello discusses with Roy but always ignores his advice, he will just have given the press lip service. Unless of course, Roy has truly matured and learned to bide his time since leaving the Avalanche. The purgatory he went through when no one would give him another coaching job in the NHL could have led to some growth.
Related: Patrick Roy Leaves Avalanche
The Islanders have got some tough decisions ahead looking at the contract situation of Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin, for instance. On the topic of difficult decisions, Lamoriello said:
“There’s no question, that decisions have to be made every year. Certainly, you reflect on what’s transpired over the last couple of years, two years in a row, so to speak. But there’s been a big change already and yeah, we’ll make whatever changes have to…
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