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

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Lou Lamoriello of the New York Islanders (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Should New York Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello win the 2020 GM of the year award? Here are some pros and cons to help you decide.

On Wednesday, New York Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello was named a finalist for the league’s GM of the year’s award; the Jim Gregory award.

Lou Lamoriello is up for the award with fellow General Managers Julien BriseBois (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Jim Nill (Dallas Stars).

Brisebois has been on the job for two years now. Under his leadership, the Tampa Bay Lightning holds the best record in the league going 105-37-10 for 220 points. He was also able to stock his team with top talent in-depth positions with Kevin Shattenkirk, Pat Maroon, and Blake Coleman.

Jim Nill has been at the helm of the Dallas Star since 2013. After some up and down years under his tenure, Nill has seemingly stabilized the ship with back-to-back top-four finishes in the tough Central Division. He’s also bolstered his squad with guys like Miro Heiskanen who’ve taken over the 2020 playoffs.

Both are worthy winners.

At first, I thought Lou should be a shoo-in, but I realized I was lumping everything he’d done as Isles GM rather than just focus on this year. I was looking at his candidacy through blue and orange lenses. So, to figure out if he really deserves the award I built myself a pros-and-cons list of Lou’s 2019-20 season.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau #44 of the New York Islanders (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Pros

Conference Finals

The Islanders have made the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 1993. No matter what happens in the series against the Tampa Bay Lightning the New York Islanders are a top-4 team in the NHL.

Again, a Conference Finals appearance hasn’t happened for 27 years and it’s thanks to Lou. Sure, this team was mainly stocked with talent acquired by Garth Snow, but Lou clearly put them in a position to win if he can get them this far in year two.

Trades Worked

Lou Lamoriello hasn’t been the most active GM when it comes to the trade market, but when he makes a deal its worked. Making trades is a huge part of a GM’s job getting them wrong can sink any team pretty quick.

Just ask the Edmonton Oilers how the Griffin Reinhart deal worked out? If Reinhart had panned out to be what Chiarelli thought he might be Taylor Hall isn’t traded to the New Jersey Devils for Adam Larsson.

In 2019-20 Lamoriello made two major trades and one minor deal.

Getting Jean-Gabriel Pageau has proven to be a shrewd move by Lou. The Isles now have one of the strongest center cores in the league with Barzal, Nelson, Pageau, and Cizikas.

Another Winning Record

Through 68 games the Isles put up a 35-23-10 record. Sure, there was a freefall at the end of the season after Adam Pelech went down, but there was also a franchise-record 17-game point streak at the start of the season.

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.

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