NY Islanders GM Lamoriello has done a little bit of everything at the trade deadline

2022-23: First Horvat, then Engvall

The Islanders had already made their major acquisition by the time the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline was approaching. Lamoriello went out and traded for Vancouver Canucks captain Bo Horvat in a deal that sent a 2023 1st-round pick, Anthony Beauvillier, and Aatu Raty, to Vancouver. The Islanders then quickly signed Horvat to an eight-year extension before he stepped onto the ice for his first practice with the team following the All-Star Break.

Despite losing Mathew Barzal in mid-February due to a knee injury, the team was playing some of it's best hockey heading into the deadline and were in the mix for the two Wild Card spots. That led to Lamoriello making one more deal to round out the forward group, acquiring Pierre Engvall from the Toronto Maple Leafs for a 2024 third round pick.

"We’re extremely pleased,” Lamoriello said after the trade. “Pierre is a very versatile player. He’ll bring a dimension that he can play any one of the forward positions and probably his biggest asset is his skating ability. He’s got a long reach being 6 [foot]-5, 220 [pounds]."

The added depth helped the Islanders finish with 93 points and return to the playoffs as the first Wild Card team, but they lost in six games to the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round.

Lamoriello has shown that when he trades for a player, he does so with the present and future in mind. Engvall did enough to impress while playing with Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri during the regular season to earn a seven-year, $21M contract in the summer.