Here is the biggest takeaway from Lou Lamoriello's season-finale press conference.
Here is the biggest takeaway from Lou Lamoriello's season-finale press conference.
EAST MEADOW, NY -- Unlike last season, New York Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello spoke on Friday's break-up day at their practice facility in East Meadow.
Per usual, Lamoriello shared that he would do what he could to improve the team, crediting Patrick Roy for coming in halfway through the season, a tough spot for anyone, and getting the team into the playoffs.
You can read up on the important pieces from his press conference below:
But there was one thing that Lamoriello said, on his own, that deserved its own story.
"I get this all the time, what changes can and should take place?" Lamoriello said. "We'll talk about it. We'll talk about it together. We spend a lot of time together. We'll come up with whatever is best but we're excited."
"We," as in he and Roy, would work together on roster construction for the 2024-25 season.
To some, it may have been obvious that Lamoriello would listen to Roy's thoughts this summer, especially since Roy came in and established his own system.
When former head coach Barry Trotz came aboard in 2018, he inspected the roster and constructed a system that fit the already-rostered players.
To hear a general manager, especially Lamoriello, make a statement such as the one above is huge and should give fans, who have been waiting for major changes, optimism that this could be the summer for them.
Of course, Lamoriello will still have the final say, but it's so important that Roy has a say going forward.
How vital are Lamoriello's words if actions back them up?
Let's flashback to Roy's first NHL coaching stop, a three-year stint behind the Colorado Avalanche bench from 2013 to 2016.
Upon being hired, Roy was to serve as their head coach but was also named the Vice President of Hockey Operations under former teammate, general manager, and team president Joe Sakic.
The Avalanche had a tremendous season in Roy's first year behind their bench, winning 52 games to finish atop the Central Division.
Roy took home the Jack Adams Trophy, which he has credited numerous times to Islanders netminder and former Avalanche backstop Semyon Varlamov.
The following season, 2014-15, the team took a significant step back, missing the playoffs by nine points.
Roy's team finished closer to a playoff spot in 2015-16, six points out, but the result was still the same.
On Aug. 11, 2016, Roy shocked the Avalanche, Sakic, and the rest of the hockey world when he resigned.
"We’ve never had an issue with not getting along,” Sakic said after Roy made his decision (H/t The Denver Post). “We were friends as players, we’re friends now. Patrick called me this morning and said that the last three or four weeks, he was wrestling with this and he just let me know that he was going to resign (Friday). I just asked him if he wanted to give it some more thought.”
Sakic went on to say that they always talked about personnel decisions, but Roy clearly didn't feel like his voice was being heard enough.
In a PR release, Roy said the following: “I have thought long and hard over the course of the summer about how I might improve this team to give it the depth it needs and bring it to a higher level. To achieve this, the vision of the coach and VP-hockey operations needs to be perfectly aligned with that of the organization. He must also have a say in the decisions that impact the team’s performance. These conditions are not currently met.”
And that was that.
Flashing forward to the Islanders and their current situation, Roy needs to have input in roster construction because his system has specific needs.
Roy needs players who can skate fast in transition and also move the puck fast.
Like Trotz, Roy needs high-IQ players, but fast players or players who get rid of the puck fast but lack IQ are indeed useless.
The passion and intensity Roy brings every day only work if the players can match it throughout an 82-game season.
That's not to say that players on the Islanders, collectively, didn't give it their all after he came aboard on Jan. 20, but age and wear and tear certainly plays a part in the ability to bring that intensity consistently.
Coming from coaching juniors, Roy not only knows how to handle young players, but it's clear, after he and his Quebec Remparts hoisted the Memorial Cup in 2023, that Roy knows what it takes to get the most out of younger players.
With cap space limited and no guarantee that Lamoriello can make the necessary changes on the trade or free agent market, especially with only $6.34 million in cap space and pending free agents, helping some of the younger players like Simon Holmstrom and Kyle MacLean, along with prospects like Ruslan Iskhakov, Matthew Maggio and Alex Jefferies, learn and grow into every day NHLers becomes that much more vital.
Lamoriello hinted that young players would get a shot.
"There are some younger players coming in. They’re going to demand more ice time and we will make whatever changes are necessary to get better," Lamoriello said.
In Roy's introductory press conference, he said that he had no interest in management, as why would he ever admit that he's gunning for his general manager's job after just being hired, even if that was the case.
"Zero interest in management,” Roy said. “And that’s the first thing I told Lou. Even at the end of my days in Colorado, Joe (Sakic) was our GM, and he was making most of the decisions. Yeah, he would come downstairs and ask my opinion on things, but I have zero interest in management (with the Isles).
Whether it was a stipulation of Roy coming aboard that he would have a say in what goes on upstairs or not, Lamoriello made it clear they'd be working together to bring the best product to the ice.
A head coach and a general manager must be on the same page, especially for a team like the Islanders, where the upcoming offseason decisions could alter the franchise's direction.
Not that emotions at an end-of-the-year press conference mean much, but Lamoriello smiling when talking about the 2024-25 season alongside Roy was different but only a sure positive.
“I'm excited," Lamoriello said. "Next season started the next morning and that's what we have been doing. As far as what transpired, I think a lot has happened. (It was an) extremely positive transition. I take full responsibility. I put Patrick in a very difficult situation.
"Coming in at the time he came in, the changes that are necessary to do things the right way, you don't have a lot of time. … So I'm excited. Patrick knows that. I couldn't be more pleased where we are today."