New York Islanders Won’t Get Toronto Maple Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello

I get the links that Toronto Maple Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello has to the New York Islanders, but that won’t translate to him becoming the Isles GM. Trust me. There’s still work to do in Toronto.

The New York Islanders currently employ the Toronto Maple Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello’s son, Chris Lamoriello. And with the Leafs getting bounced from the playoffs in seven games by the Boston Bruins the focus turns to what the now 75-year-old Maple Leafs GM will do.

Will he stay in Toronto to close out his likely Hall of Fame career? Or does he have one last move in him? And if it’s the latter does he join forces with his son where he can complete his training and bring order to the New York Islanders? (I’ve been watching a ton of Star Wars recently.)

My sentiment is a resounding no. Lou Lamoriello already has an understudy in Kyle Dubas, and his training isn’t over. With the Leafs ready to transition into the next chapter of their rebuild they need Lou around. So why come to this clown show?

UFA’s And Youth

Going into the 2018 offseason the Toronto Maple Leafs have to decide how they are going to bridge the switch from the previous regime of players to the new one. In this offseason, they have five big name UFA’s to figure out what to do with.

James van Riemsdyk ($4.25 million cap hit), Tyler Bozak ($4.2 million), Tomas Plekanec ($4 million), Leo Komarov ($2.95 million) and Joffrey Lupul ($5.25 million). The Maple Leafs have to pay special attention on who they keep, what they pay the ones they keep, and who they inevitably let walk because the next wave of talent is getting ready for their first non-ELC deals.

In this offseason, both William Nylander and Kasperi Kapanen are up for extensions. Both had good seasons in the NHL, both will likely command a fair number. Next offseason comes deals for Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews.

Lou is going to stick around Toronto to teach the new blood in the GM’s seat how to transition from a core of aging veterans to a group of young stars in the making. Because that was the goal all along in Toronto.

The teardown and redraft were steps one and two of their multi-step process. They tore everything down to the best of their abilities and then drafted well with the picks they were given. Now the process is to keep that core of young talent together for as long as possible.

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In my mind, Lou Lamoriello stays another year in Toronto before calling it a career and retiring to give the reins over to Dubas. Landing Lou Lamoriello would be good, but unlikely.