Islanders' Lamoriello Looking to Next Year at Deadline

The growing belief is that the New York Islanders management feels this roster is not far off from making another run at the Stanley Cup. With that said, Lou Lamoriello knows that the team will need an adjustment before opening the next season.

The summer seems to be where the tweaking will be done to this roster, but could Lamoriello get some work done for next year’s roster?

New York Islanders Explore Options

Most of the complicated transactions are done in the summer months around the NHL draft. More specifically, salary cap concerns are handled without a strict deadline like today.

Naturally, the Islanders have veteran players with term and significant money left on their contracts. To move these players will take care and creativity. Like last summer’s moves of Andrew Ladd and Nick Leddy.

Having said that, why should improving next year’s roster be put on hold? Sure, draft picks are assets for the future of the organization and some draft picks show impact sooner than later. But this team will need players and specific types of players.

Lamoriello may have the opportunity to not just unload contracts but add key pieces for next year. It is not the norm, but also not unheard of for a team out of contention to make an impactful move to their roster on deadline day.

The Islanders will need to improve their defensive group and certainly adding a pure goal scorer is a must. Those players are always available this time of year, but for the teams needing the final piece for their Cup run.

If said players are available and fit the need of the 2022-23 New York Islanders, why not just start the process now? The Islanders may be able to offer more in a deal than a contending team with less desirable draft picks and minimal cap space.

As usual, I do believe this will be a quiet deadline except for either Zdeno Chara or Andy Greene being moved. Neither player largely factors into next year’s plans so why not get something for them and add an asset.

It is hard to count Lamoriello out of anything at this time of the year. I believe that a General Manager may make an offer that Lamoriello may have to seriously consider before this afternoon.