The Islanders will not renew general manager Lou Lamoriello’s contract, the team announced Tuesday. Minority owner John Collins will lead the search for a new GM on Long Island.
It’s not clear who will handle interim GM duties for the Isles if they don’t have a new GM in place by the draft. For now, Chris Lamoriello (Lou’s son) and Steve Pellegrini remain in their roles as assistant general managers and will presumably handle any minor moves or re-signings until a new top hockey operations decision-maker is appointed.
One of the longest-serving and most accomplished executives in league history, Lamoriello’s tenure with the Islanders ends after seven seasons. They brought him in during the 2018 offseason after his contract to serve as GM of the Maple Leafs expired, initially just as president of hockey operations. He quickly fired then-GM Garth Snow and appointed himself in the role.
The early stages of Lamoriello’s time at the helm were an unequivocal success. He poached head coach Barry Trotz from the reigning Stanley Cup champion Capitals, a decision that immediately helped put the Isles back in the postseason after missing out for two years. Trotz won Coach of the Year honors in 2018-19 as the Islanders rattled off 48 wins, their most in a season since winning 50 games in 1983-84, and swept the Penguins in the first round. While they didn’t advance to the Conference Finals, they would do so in 2020 and 2021, taking the eventual Stanley Cup champion Lightning to six and seven games, respectively.
In the four seasons that followed, the Islanders have won just three playoff games, including two first-round losses to the Hurricanes (2023, 2024). They finished with a .500 record this season and missed the playoffs, failing to secure more wins than regulation losses for the first time in Lamoriello’s tenure. They’ve also now failed to win at least 40 games in back-to-back 82-game seasons since 2010-11 and 2011-12.
It’s not as if Lamoriello’s successor is walking into a five-alarm fire on the Island, but there’s much work to do this summer. Chief among a long list of to-dos is a new contract for No. 1 defenseman Noah Dobson, who’s an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent this summer. Most of their other defenders don’t have deals for next season – only Scott Mayfield, Adam Pelech, and Ryan Pulock are signed for 2025-26 among rearguards who ended the year on the active roster. There has been reported progress on a contract extension for their top pending UFA, Kyle Palmieri, but it’s unclear how the GM change will affect talks there.
One thing is clear – the Islanders’ new GM will come from outside the organization. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports the Islanders won’t be making any coaching changes or hockey operations staff alterations until the new hire is in place. They’ll have a say in determining the future of head coach Patrick Roy, his staff, and the rest of the front office.
Lamoriello was already the oldest-serving NHL GM in history at age 82. Whether it’s the end of the road for him after a 38-year run in NHL front offices with New Jersey, Toronto, and New York remains to be seen. It’s almost certainly his last GM role, but a senior advisor role somewhere may be of interest.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images.
Players facial hairs rejoice! :D
@Gbear — Can you see it now? A new GM, vaguely resembling the late Frank Zappa, suggests to ownership, “Let’s rename the team the New York Stoners! Nobody’s allowed to have short hair, and the post-game spread will be munchies!”
@Mac – Ken Morrow beards all around! :D
Dinosaurs are now officially extinct.
For hockey perhaps, but for baseball/basketball, we’ve still got to put up with Jerry Reinsdorf…
He will resurface.
But does he turn water into wine?
Dinosaurs aren’t all that bad…
SINCLAAAIR!!
Islander fans, rejoice. Officially one of the greatest days for the franchise since the 1980’s.
Hey, c’mon now, there were days in which Milbury and Snow were both relieved of their respective GM duties! Lou may have lost his fastball, but he’s not even in the Top 3 of bad Isles GMs this century.
LOL, fair enough. Forgot about his predecessors…
This has been a long time coming as the Islanders need a retool to get themselves back into being a playoff contender again. We’ll see what comes of it during the summer.
No one should hire this guy. He’s past his expiration date
There is a God.
Is this what he meant when he said we have to get younger? Finally ownership woke up from their long winters nap and realized they’re losing lots of money with Grandpa Lou in charge. And while they’re at it don’t forget to fire Lou’s son, so father and son can drive home together.
Lol isle fans forgetting that Lou saved their past 5 years of misery and ended the reign of terror that was Snow.
We’re not forgetting anything. How many Garth Snow draft picks are on this roster right now? And how many Grandpa Lou draft picks are either on this roster or Bridgeport’s roster? I’m not saying Garth didn’t have his faults because he did. But Wang got pretty cheap with this team when NassauCounty wouldn’t give him his Lighthouse Project. Lamoriello had pretty much freedom to do whatever he wanted, plus a brand new building to play in. Grandpa Lou sucks at contracts, managing the cap, drafting and signing players. He’s the reason we have like five players signed into the next decade.
Does this mean they’ll bring back Garth Snow?
Sending Grandpa Lou “out to clean”! About time.
About damn time.