Islanders: Why GM Lou Lamoriello hides his signings

For the last few years now, New York Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello has delayed officially announcing some of his signings. For example, the paperwork still hasn’t yet been filed on Zdeno Chara or Zach Parise even though both are officially in the fold.

We’ve all made assumptions as to why Lou chooses to do this but we don’t actually know why he does this. Until now. Thanks to NY Posts Mollie Walker, now we know. And basically, all of our assumptions were right.

Why New York Islanders Lou Lamoriello is cagey about signings

Most of us assumed Lou Lamoriello hid his signings to prevent other teams from knowing the Islanders salary cap situation. Some thought it was because he was working on something. Both were right according to Lou:

So if there’s was a question on some hypothetical test about why Lou Lamoriello hides his signings the answer would certainly be “All of the Above”. And why not, right?

What does Lou Lamoriello have to lose by keeping those signings internal until he absolutely has to register them with the league? Nothing, there is nothing to lose, but everything to gain by keeping the deals “secret” of sorts.

Again, we know the deals are made we just don’t know the teams or the finances of these deals. From a fan perspective, it’s a bit frustrating to not know what is going on with the team until the 10th or 11th hour, but from a team-building perspective, this makes a ton of sense.

It’s frankly surprising more GMs don’t do this. And by “this” I strictly mean not filling the paperwork until they absolutely have to. Offer the contract, have the player sign it, but keep the paperwork in the “To File” pile until the day before the regular season begins or whenever it’s convenient for the team (like when and if any offer sheet threats are gone).

Lou Lamoriello is truly one-of-a-kind and I’m glad he’s running the Isles.