Lou Lamoriello knows hockey inside out and that is a plus for the Islanders organization.
The story has come out. Lou Lamoriello is still working for the New York Islanders franchise as an advisor to team owner Scott Malkin. While some of the Islanders’ faithful may be alarmed at the news, Malkin could do far worse than having Lamoriello around. Lamoriello attended the National Hockey League Board of Governors meeting in New York in October and plans to be at the winter session in Colorado Springs. His advisory role with Malkin runs beyond this season. Lamoriello is a great sounding board for Malkin and for the Islanders General Manager Mathieu Darce. One thing about Lamoriello, he tells the hockey people what he thinks, there is no gray area to him. He is a straight shooter. As far as the media, Lou never said very much.
Lamoriello has been around the block more than once. He ran Dr. John McMullen’s New Jersey Devils hockey business and won three Stanley Cups during his tenure. He worked for the YankeesNets combination when George Steinbrener and Dr. McMullen joined forces to buy the National Basketball Association’s New Jersey Nets in 1999. He went to Toronto in 2015 and rebuilt a sputtering franchise into a much better team. He came to the Islanders in 2018 and hired Barry Trotz and took Gath Snow’s basic roster and that team went to two Eastern Conference finals. Lamoriello was very old school. Players on his teams were not allowed to grow beards, in New Jersey he did not believe in promoting players in the media and was seen as a tough single minded individual. But his players loved him in New Jersey and speak highly of him. Lamoriello’s Islanders players Matt Martin, Josh Bailey, Cal Clutterbuck, and Thomas Hickey are still around the team after their retirements. Lamoriello took care of guys in New Jersey like Ken Daneyko. Martin speaks enthusiastically about Lamoriello. Lou Lamoriello is working with Malkin and Darche and as people would tell you inside the game, that’s not a bad thing.
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Lou Lamoriello lead New Jersey to three Stanley Cups.
