Islanders Lou Lamoriello tenure has been a resounding success

Lou Lamoriello has been with the New York Islanders two years and it’s been a resounding success.

Two years ago the New York Islanders hired Hockey Hall of Fame GM Lou Lamoriello to be the team’s new President of Hockey Operations. After 12 years of Garth Snow in charge, there was going to be a new voice at the top.

In two years since the Islanders hired the former New Jersey Devils and Toronto Maple Leafs GM, Lou Lamoriello has brought success to a franchise that wasn’t used to having any in the modern era.

In the two years since he took over, Lou Lamoriello has put the Islanders on the right path.

A Man With a Plan

On May 22, 2018, the New York Islanders announced that Lou Lamoriello would be the team’s new President of Hockey Operations. A title that Garth Snow had previously held.

Since that appointment Lou went about his business reshaping his team within the organization. Gone was Garth Snow (sorta). Doug Weight was gone. Most of Doug Weight‘s coaching staff was also let go.

Lou made himself the GM a few weeks after he was hired. He brought in Stanley Cup-winning coach Barry Trotz. And in turn, Barry brought his team with him. Including goalie coach Mitch Korn, who was made the Director of Goaltending. Toronto Marlies goalie coach Piero Greco was brought in to be the team’s new goalie coach.

In terms of playing staff, Lou wasn’t able to keep John Tavares (although who knows if he even had a chance). In that free agency window Lou seemed to have compounded the issue by signing a gaggle of bottom six-players and reclamation projects.

But Lou proved everyone wrong.

Since being appointed as President, the New York Islanders hold an 83-50-17 record good for 183 points record and ranking them as the seventh-best franchise in the league.

In 2019-20, the Islanders powered their way to the top of the standings thanks to a franchise-record 17-game point streak.

His team has been to the playoffs once and is likely heading to playoffs again this season, even if that comes with an asterisk due to the COVID-19 pandemic. His team has already won a playoff round. Something that was only done once in the 25 years before he took over.

And that playoff series win under Lou was a four-game sweep over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Islanders haven’t won a playoff series by sweeping their opponents since they swept the Oilers in 1983 for their fourth Stanley Cup in a row.

Sure, there have been hiccups along the way. Free agency hasn’t always been a resounding success. While Valtteri Filppula and Robin Lehner were great pickups, Lou wasn’t able to close the deal on big-time players like John Tavares and Artemi Panarin.

After Adam Pelech went down with a season-ending injury in 2019-20 the Islanders went into a negative spiral losing a ton of games revealing the lack of a plan-b.

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But even with those few setbacks, it’s clear that Lou Lamoriello’s tenure with the Islanders has been a resounding success.

When Lou Lamoriello was hired he stated that his goal was to bring winning hockey back to the New York Islanders. And within two years he’s achieved that.