This is going to be an intriguing couple of weeks and months in New York Islanders nation. Lou Lamoriello may end up selling off some longtime Islanders before the March 7 trade deadline or he may choose to sign Brock Nelson, keep his core intact and push for a wild-card spot.
Lamoriello may also not be in charge beyond this season, depending on what principal owner Scott Malkin is thinking.
There’s an understandable focus on what Malkin will do, what Lamoriello will do and what the Isles’ tradable players could bring in return. Plus a question about Bridgeport’s poor run of play, the lousy Islanders power play and more.
Some questions have been edited for clarity and length.
What do you think is ownership’s breaking point with the current front office? Another uninspired first-round exit? Missing altogether? Complete meltdown post-4 Nations? — D B.
I’ll answer this first question with a question: Why isn’t Malkin already there on Lamoriello? To me, there’s no need for further study. This team is exactly what it looks like and what its results are: an aging, mediocre team. That’s been the case for four years now, so I can’t see why Malkin and his group of minority owners would need another few weeks.
You can be sure Malkin and the other owners have had and are having these discussions. But if they need more time or want to see what the team can do after the break, after the deadline, when it’s healthy, that sounds like searching for excuses to not make a change.
In what scenario would it take to have Patrick Roy named GM? The owners giving him the same “freedom” to run hockey ops that Lou was handed in 2018. On a scale of 1-10, what is the likelihood of this occurring in the next year or two? — K V.
I can say that Roy still has term left on his contract so perhaps making him GM would be a consideration should Lamoriello be let go. But it makes zero sense to transition immediately from Lamoriello to a first-time GM, whether it’s Roy or someone outside the organization.
The Islanders’ situation demands an experienced person to come in and revamp all areas of hockey operations. I’ve tossed a few names out before — Jeff Gorton, currently president of hockey operations for the Montreal Canadiens; Brendan Shanahan, same for the Toronto Maple Leafs; George McPhee, POHOP for Vegas and Marc Bergevin, former Canadiens GM just to name four off the hop — and there could be more available when the time comes this summer.
I’m still not sure what Roy is as a coach, given the injuries and the makeup of this roster. I am sure he’s got the same amount of NHL executive experience that I do and I wouldn’t turn the reins over to a newbie without a very, very thorough search.
Lou Lamoriello at the 2024 NHL Draft. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
Two things I can’t seem to reconcile so wanted your assistance: If the Islanders are looking to move on from Lou after this season (not sure if that’s actually the case, but with another down year/no playoffs how could it not be at least a question), then how could they also entrust him to sell off major pieces? If there’s something I’m missing with that let me know, but I just cannot see them letting/directing Lou to sell and then let him go. And, I can’t see Lou selling pieces off at his age/stage he is in his career – this just seems like two distinctly diverging paths to me. — Kevin M.
I think you’re right that Lamoriello is not looking to sell. I do think Malkin could tell Lamoriello he has to sell because Malkin is the boss here. Lamoriello took the job under the premise that he’d have full say on hockey ops matters but he still reports to Malkin, who has the final say. It’s been that way for seven years now — what Lamoriello didn’t want was anyone peering over his shoulder the way it was at the end of Garth Snow’s tenure.
So Malkin could tell Lamoriello to sell at this deadline and then make a GM change. Owners get the last word on everything. I’ve not heard anything over the last few weeks to indicate that Malkin has made that decision, but it’s not totally implausible.
Do you see the Islanders possibly pursuing a trade to acquire one of the top three picks in the 2025 draft in the hopes of landing James Hagens? What pieces would they have to move to make such a trade a reality? — Hudson P.
That would be great for Hagens and for Islanders fans but the only realistic way is to finish in the bottom three, which seems like it would be more work than trying to make the playoffs at this moment.
Trading into the top three is a thing of the past, it seems. The teams with a legitimate shot at winning the draft lottery aren’t in a position to want to make a move and, after the lottery is set, it’s hard to know where you’d need to be to have a shot at Hagens. First? Second? Don’t see those teams willing to move back unless you’re trading them a cornerstone player for their future.
Maybe you’d find a team that would take Noah Dobson for one of the top three picks, but that leaves a pretty gaping hole in the Islanders defense. Mathew Barzal? Again, maybe, but you’re swapping out your current best player for a kid you hope will be your best player in 3-4 years.
Not a lot of attractive options. Losing, unfortunately, is the way to secure one of those picks.
What is your theory on why our power play is the worst in the league? We were middle of the pack (18th) in PP% last year. But we were a bottom 3 PP% team the year before that. So more bad than good over the past three seasons. Do you think this year’s extreme drop is simply due to Barzal missing so much time, since we rely so heavily on him to gain the zone? Do you think it’s a talent problem in terms of our top guys just not being good enough? Or do you think it’s a coaching and systems problem? We’re all just kind of guessing, but I’m curious what you think the problem is. — Chris M.
Can I say yes to all of it? That’s not a cop-out — there’s never just one reason, one issue that makes the difference.
Just looking at this season I think the main factors are: injuries that don’t allow any consistency, regression from Dobson that’s taken away a real point threat and allows opposing penalty killers to pressure the middle and the sides harder, and the lack of a true triggerman on one of the flanks to pull apart the opposing PK structure.
Bo Horvat is the shooter for the top unit but he works best in the bumper spot and that’s a hard space to thrive in. They need a quicker QB at the top, a shooting threat in one of the circles and some better luck.
Seems to be a common idea that defensemen reach their prime at 28. Dobson appears to have taken a step backwards, but is still only 25 with lots of room to grow, has he had an injury this year or is there some other reason his defensive side of the game appears to have slipped so much this year? — Cory E.
I think he’s not making strong enough decisions in his own end — who to cover, lanes to get pucks out, things like that. You start second-guessing yourself at that end and it’s going to be a problem all over the ice. Dobson was never the definitive, all-situations defenseman but you could see a way he could get there the last couple seasons; this year has been a step back and now a bad injury might not let him off the mat before this season is up.
As you said, though, he’s 25. Trading him now feels like an overreaction. I wouldn’t give him 8 years at $11 million per either, but the Islanders would be spending a lot of time and assets to try to find a Dobson replacement if they moved him now.
Why is Bridgeport a perennial mess? Management? Coaching? It seems the “veterans” they bring in to provide guidance are weak. Terry, Pinho, Helgeson, etc…they’re not real ex-NHLers.
Any idea what happened to Tristan Lennox? I heard his knee essentially exploded last year and his career may be in jeopardy. They also just drafted 2 more goalies, which could be a telling sign. Thoughts? — Jonathan F.
Lamoriello has always preferred to have his AHL teams stocked with what you’d call “quad-A” guys if this was MLB — players who aren’t really NHL-level but good enough to fill in the gaps around a thin prospect pool. The New Jersey Devils’ farm teams toward the end of Lamoriello’s tenure there were perennially mediocre.
During the Charles Wang years, cost was a factor in why Bridgeport wasn’t good. You need to spend money on the AHL team for it to have a decent record, especially in goal; part of Bridgeport’s problem being so bad this year is its goaltending has been eye-poppingly ugly, even when Marcus Högberg was down there.
As to the second question, I know it was a bad injury since Lennox has been out for over a calendar year. Drafting goalies is not really a reaction to a prospect being hurt, though.
I understand where the Isles rank in terms of NY sports, but lack of interest from Malkin is disheartening. Do you have any insight — does he ask any questions about the team or seem to care? NY has rightly criticized Dolan, Woody, the Wilpons, Mara, and Hal but at least they cared. I get the sense that Malkin is happy with the status quo — Rob S.
There are two main types of sports owners: There are the meddlers and the “set it and forget it” ones. The second kind is usually the best kind, right? That owner picks the person to lead team ops and doesn’t interfere.
However, when things start to go south, that second kind can be a bit slow to react. That owner still likes the person he picked and still trusts them. In business, that sort of faith and loyalty is great. In sports business, it can come off as apathy. This isn’t a normal business.
So Malkin, who doesn’t live in New York (or even the U.S.), picked Lamoriello and trusted Lamoriello to do what he needed to. It worked great for a few years. It’s not working great now. I don’t think Malkin is out of touch. He still likes his guy and trusts his guy. But he’s definitely aware that change might be needed.
What will the Isles defense ideally look like once guys start to get healthy? And what about next season? — Jon W.
If Ryan Pulock and Dobson are healthy soon and there are no subtractions before the trade deadline, here’s what I think the defense will look like in the short term:
Alex Romanov-Dobson
Adam Pelech-Pulock
Tony DeAngelo-Scott Mayfield
Next season, I’d plug Isaiah George into DeAngelo’s spot. There’s a lot in flux, of course. A new GM might make it a priority to shed one of Pelech, Pulock or Mayfield this summer, or maybe two of those three. Maybe Dobson ends up being moved. But to me, the only real change is making room for George as a regular.
Would the Islanders trade Mathew Barzal to Vancouver for Elias Pettersson? (Nathan Ray Seebeck / Imagn Images)
What would the Islanders have to give up to get Pettersson from the Canucks? Would it be worth it? — Mason
It would probably be Dobson or Barzal as the centerpiece. I don’t get why Vancouver would be interested in Dobson since it has Quinn Hughes already — unless the Canucks are convinced Hughes wants to leave when his contract is up in 2027 and they’d be preparing for that to happen.
Barzal going home makes some sense if that’s what he wants and that swap is basically position for position, top talent for top talent. Elias Pettersson’s down year after all the nonsense with J.T. Miller shouldn’t take away from his strong resume — he is a true No. 1 center who’s two years younger than Barzal and is a point-per-game player — so yeah, I’d say it’s worth it.
What is a realistic expected return for the following players: Brock Nelson, Kyle Palmieri, J-G Pageau, Pulock, Pelech, Mayfield? — Robert B.
OK, let’s run through and see.
Nelson: A late first-round pick plus a mid-level prospect/mid-round pick (think third or fourth).
Palmieri: Two picks, a second and a third/fourth.
Pageau: Without any salary retention, maybe a second. With some retention, two seconds.
Pulock: A second or third plus a decent-sized contract coming back. If there’s a team interested in Pulock, who has five years left on his deal, you’re probably committing to this move just to change it up, not get a huge return. Pulock has a full no-trade clause as well, so he would have to approve any deal. Best of luck there.
Pelech: A youngish player and a third/fourth. Pelech’s more attractive than Pulock since he has four years left at a lower cap hit and his full no-trade goes to a 15-team no-trade on July 1. If the Isles have the stomach to move him, they could do so.
Mayfield: Maybe a third/fourth. Mayfield’s contract — five years left at $3.5 million per — is a beast for a third-pair guy who’s 32 and injury-prone. If the Isles found a taker it would be a straight salary dump, most likely. Much higher chance of a buyout than a trade here.
(Photo of Kyle Palmieri and Brock Nelson: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
