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The Lamoriello era is over after seven seasons, a few of which were pretty good.
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About mid-day on Tuesday, Islanders Country began to erupt with news that change was afoot at last.
Reasonable people (there are a few out there) can debate strengths and weaknesses and when exactly Lou Lamoriello lost the plot, but it’s hard to argue that the last two seasons (or more) were anything beyond a low-imagination, misplaced-priorities failure.
The guy who took over the helm proclaiming, “The goal is not just to compete, the goal is to win” spent multiple seasons fielding rosters that needed mad late-season surges just to be in the “compete” bubble. Worse, fans could see those low ceilings from preseason. NO team feared them as a first-round playoff opponent.
Other than those two delightful conference final runs under Barry Trotz — when they were belatedly feared — Lou’s Isles were never close to winning and they were getting further away each season. Maybe there were legit “lost the room” reasons for firing Trotz after a season that had several extenuating circumstances, but the hiring of Lane Lambert because he impressed Lou during the week Trotz was on bereavement leave was curious, and it did not look any better when he aborted that move after a season and a half.
If Trotz lost the room that season, then over the past year or more Lou lost the fanbase, as reflected in ratings, surveys and butts in seats. It was time. Lou will always be in our debt for bringing in Trotz and restoring credibility for the Isles; he had brilliant moments in his long career, but so did my father, and yet I’d never let my dad near a computer if I could help it.
Leading the search for a replacement is John Collins, a man some do not know from Adam. Who knows whether he’ll find the right person for GM, but his track record with the NHL indicates we’ll at least see a transformation on the Isles’ business and marketing side, finally released from the shackles of Lou’s archaic (and frankly asinine in 2025) haircuts-and-tight-lips-equals-culture regime. And it sounds like Collins has been doing due diligence on possible candidates behind the scenes already.
BREAKING: This was just coming across after posting this morning, but are Chris King and Greg Picker also out? Maybe no radio team at all?
Hearing #Isles also made a big change on the broadcast side:
Longtime radio voices Chris King and @GregPickerHere were let go. Team may not have a radio broadcast going forward.
No two people more devoted to the team than Kinger and Greg.
Last night was another eventful one:
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