Islanders: Pros and cons of Lou Lamoriello GM of the Year nod

Cons

Derick Brassard

Derick Brassard was a rare miss for Lou since he took over the Islanders. If Derick Brassard had performed as expected as the team’s third-line center there’s no need to get Jean-Gabriel Pageau.

Maybe that’s not such a bad thing? Because the Isles now have Jean-Gabriel Pageau for the next six years.

Waited too long for Greene 

On January 2, Adam Pelech was sidelined for the season. Lou Lamoriello didn’t acquire a replacement until February 16. By then the Islanders put up an 8-8-3 record and sunk in the standings.

Lou knew how important Pelech was for the team. Waiting so long to get a replacement did the team no favors.

Drafting

It’s hard to give Lou an accurate grade here because we won’t know how some of his picks pan out for years to come. But taking Simon Holmstrom 23rd overall will remain a head-scratcher.

It’s not that Holmstrom is a bad player. He was projected to go somewhere in the middle of the second round. NHL Central Scouting had him as the 27th European skater and TSN’s Bob McKenzie had him ranked 43rd.

Getting Holmstrom at 23 when he could have been available later seems like a wasted opportunity to draft someone else and make some moves to acquire Holmstrom in the second round.

Final Thoughts

Like I said, at first I was convinced this was Lou’s award to lose. But looking at some of his cons I’m not thinking the same anymore.

Lou certainly deserves a nod for the award, but he hasn’t done enough this year to be the presumptive winner. At the rate the Islanders were going at the end of the season, they may not have even made the playoffs. And if they don’t are we having this discussion? Probably not.