He speaks! NY Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello to meet with the media on Tuesday

The waiting is over ... almost over.

New York Islanders GM and President of Hockey Operations Lou Lamoriello will reportedly meet with the media on Tuesday afternoon after staying silent about his status and the status of head coach Lane Lambert since the Islanders were eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in six games by the Metropolitan Division champion Carolina Hurricanes.

Expectations of changes to the Islanders' front office have been tempered for weeks by reports that Lamoriello had received a new contract offer, for as long as three years, from owners Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin. It has long been believed that the 80-year-old hockey executive was in the final year of the contract that he signed in 2018. Last week, we heard (kind of) Lamoriello in an official capacity when he released a statement following the NHL's official announcement that the team would be playing in the Stadium Series at MetLife Stadium against the New York Rangers on Feb. 18.

There's no shortage of things to ask Lamoriello about, although it's not often that media members are able to get him to say anything more than the savvy GM wants to say publicly. He has his standard answers, reliable sayings, and the ability to say a lot of words without saying much at all.

The media will want to know the status of Lamoriello's contract, but he never speaks about that publicly. They'll want to offer an evaluation of Lane Lambert's first season and the status of assistant coach John MacLean, who oversaw a woeful power play that finished 30th in the league and scored just once in their series versus Carolina. It's hard to make a case for him to remain in that position for next season. Has a decision been already made? We'll see.

Also, fans are curious as to whether there has been a decision about Josh Bailey and if he'll entertain a buyout. Plus, the level of interest in keeping UFAs Scott Mayfield and Pierre Engvall. Has he heard from Zach Parise on his status for next season? What about an extension for Vezina Finalist Ilya Sorokin?

The list goes on and on as to what the media can ask, and we know they've had long enough to think about what their questions should be. Lamoriello made them wait; now we wait to see if there was a reason behind it.