The New York Islanders Are Stuck – Or Are They?

Over the course of his Hockey Hall of Fame career, Lou Lamoriello has not been one for patience. 

This is a hockey lifer who, mostly as a GM, hasn’t thought twice about firing a coach. Indeed, not once, but twice toward the very end of the regular season, Lamoriello fired his coach. Lamoriello is the dictionary definition of a "results are all that matter" hockey mind, which is why his current predicament with the New York Islanders is so intriguing.

As we saw this past regular season, Lamoriello’s New York Islanders had much to improve on. Yes, the Isles made the Stanley Cup playoffs in the highly competitive Metropolitan Division, but they were swiftly sent packing by the Carolina Hurricanes in six games of the first round. This was the second straight season the Islanders either didn’t make the post-season or failed to get into the second round. And you must know Lamoriello is not pleased by his team’s defeats.

That said, when you look at the Isles’ roster heading into the 2023-24 campaign, it sure does look like Lamoriello has been handcuffed in terms of improving his roster. Indeed, as per CapFriendly, the Isles don’t have much in the way of salary cap space. And that’s a huge problem for a roster that has multiple holes in it.

Indeed, while the Isles have 20 players under contract for next season, they have only $5.3 million in cap space to fill out the lineup. 

A great deal of that cap space should go to a veteran goaltender who can give star starting netminder Ilya Sorokin more rest than he got this past season. Sorokin appeared in a career-high 62 games in 2022-23. With most teams going for a tandem netminding pair that takes the pressure off their starter, it would be ideal for the Islanders to sign an experienced goalie who could appear in 30 games and reduce Sorokin’s workload by at least 10 games.

That won’t be easy for Lamoriello to make happen, but with whatever cap space he has after signing a backup goaltender, Lamoriello has to pay veteran defenseman and looming UFA Scott Mayfield. The 30-year-old Mayfield averaged 21:02 of ice time this past year, and as a big-bodied, right-shot D-man, Mayfield will have no shortage of teams interested in giving him a sizeable raise on the $1.45 million he made in 2022-23. Ultimately, the Islanders may have no choice but to let Mayfield depart via free agency, and if he does, the Isles will have a gaping hole that won’t be easily filled in.

The other asset Lamoriello has to address is UFA winger Pierre Engvall. The 27-year-old Swede cost the Islanders a third-round draft pick in this summer’s NHL draft, so you know Lamoriello wants to retain his services. But given that Engvall had a cap hit of $2.25 million last season, he may be too expensive to bring him back to Long Island.

All in all, the Isles are going to be hard-pressed just to keep their roster intact, let alone add experience and upper-tier talent to it. 

Some might suggest a full year of last season’s blockbuster trade-addition of star center Bo Horvat will provide a boost to the Islanders’ bottom line, but in a division that’s going to be even more competitive than it was last year, is that going to be enough? We have our doubts.

Nevertheless, while Lamoriello has painted himself into a corner cap-wise, we don’t doubt for a second that he’s planning to make significant moves this off-season. He knows full well he’s got an aging group up front – eight of his top 12 forwards are at least 30 years old – and he is unafraid to change his core of talent.

For those reasons, don’t take your eyes off the Islanders in the days and weeks ahead. They may be quiet for the moment, but they’re likely to be major players in terms of roster renovations prior to next season.