It hasn’t even been a year since the New York Islanders shocked the hockey world by firing Barry Trotz, and there are already questions being asked about the job security of his replacement. Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello spoke to the media including Kevin Kurz of The Athletic today and offered a clear stance of support for head coach Lane Lambert and the rest of his staff.
I certainly am around enough to see what they are doing, how they’re preparing, and there is nothing more that they can do. I think they’re doing the best job you could possibly ask of them. Total confidence.
Lambert, a long-time Trotz assistant, took over as head coach last May and has so far led the Islanders to a 23-21-5 record. That includes a 2-7-3 record since the calendar flipped to 2023, and an 8-12-5 record since the beginning of December. The usually stingy Islanders have allowed at least four goals in 13 of their last 25, and are still scoring at a rate that puts them among the league’s bottom third.
The powerplay in particular has been dreadful, with New York sitting 29th in the league. They have scored only 23 goals all season with the man advantage.
Even if Lamoriello is willing to take the blame, it doesn’t change where the Islanders currently find themselves. The team is now sixth in the Metropolitan Divison, only three points ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers. Their chances at the postseason are slipping away daily and suddenly appear like a potential seller at the deadline.
Regardless of what happens, it doesn’t look like changing the coach is a bullet that Lamoriello is willing to fire at this point. It’s Lambert’s job, at least for the time being.
Uh-oh, the dreaded Vote of Confidence.
My thought to. The vote of confidence has alway been the guillotine far as i recall.
Coaching isn’t the issue. They just don’t have any high end skill up front besides Barzal. Lou overpaid guys like Beauvillier, Palmieri and Pageau and he hasn’t added any top-end wingers to help Barzal. Bailey and Lee haven’t put up more than 50-points in 5-years and they make a combined $12 million. They’ve got so many bad contracts and Lou has done nothing to try and move them out. He’s too complacent.
Barzal is a second line center at best. He does nothing to make his teammates better and the fact that he makes more that a player like Zibanejad is laughable.
Lou signed Ross Johnston for over 1 million this year he’s played less than 10 games
@Al Hirschen – It’s actually 11 games this year, but your point is still good. At 6’5″ and 230-lb (per HockeyRef), you’d think he’d be more impactful, but his numbers suggest that when he is on the ice, he isn’t doing very much with his 4th-line minutes. Maybe he *likes* being a healthy scratch (?).
OK, we can all settle down now. Poor Amalie drew the short straw on this one and had to write it up on NHL.com— “Islanders struggles ‘my responsibility,’ Lamoriello says”. Unfortunately, the rest of us have to say, “Really, Lou?” Game speed is a big focus for the NHL, but we should be talking “GM speed”, to refer to executives that can or can’t adjust to the new tempo of keeping teams competitive. The better GMs will be faster to pull the trigger on trades and faster to jettison under-performing players. The definition of patience will continue to evolve from the outdated mentalities of the past.