Islanders’ End-of-Season Press Conference Hints at Veteran Turnover

The same goes for bench boss Patrick Roy who was hired on Jan. 20. Since taking over from Lane Lambert, he led the New York Islanders to 20 wins, 12 losses, and five overtime or shootout losses. The 45 points gathered were enough to give the Islanders their ticket for the playoffs, but the postseason ended after five short playoff games. Here are my takeaways from the video published on the Islanders website.

What Lamoriello Had to Say

In a 15-minute media opportunity, Lamoriello and Roy fielded questions from journalists on various topics. Without even being asked about potential changes the offseason could bring, Lamoriello explained:

“To answer another question before you start, I get this all the time…What changes can and should take place? We’ll talk about it, we’ll talk about it together. We spend a lot of time together and we’ll come up with whatever is best, but we’re excited, I am anyway.”

To me, this means Roy will be involved in player personnel decisions. This will please him considering he walked out on the Colorado Avalanche because he didn’t have enough involvement in player personnel decisions (from ‘For Patrick Roy, battle over Avs personnel decisions was tipping point for resigning’, Denver Post, Aug. 11, 2016). Of course, it’s one thing to say this in a press conference, but it’s quite another to do it. If Lamoriello discusses with Roy but always ignores his advice, he will just have given the press lip service. Unless of course, Roy has truly matured and learned to bide his time since leaving the Avalanche. The purgatory he went through when no one would give him another coaching job in the NHL could have led to some growth.

The Islanders have got some tough decisions ahead looking at the contract situation of Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin, for instance. On the topic of difficult decisions, Lamoriello said:

“There’s no question, that decisions have to be made every year. Certainly, you reflect on what’s transpired over the last couple of years, two years in a row, so to speak. But there’s been a big change already and yeah, we’ll make whatever changes have to be made. Okay, there’s nothing sacred, there’s nothing that won’t be done. But it does take two to make those changes and they’ll be made probably. If the opportunity to make a change is there. But we won’t make a change just for the sake of making a change.”

On hearing this, I immediately thought about the two players I mentioned above. Along with Casey Cizikas, the two veterans formed a very efficient fourth line for quite some time, but now they are at a crossing. Lamoriello saying there’s nothing sacred indicates the distant past hardly matters, you’re only as good as your recent results. Clutterbuck is now 36 years old, and while he played in every game this season, he had some health issues in the two seasons before. As for Martin, he’s 34 and was limited to just 57 games this year.

Lamoriello was also asked specifically about the two veterans and his answer was clear:

“Whatever decisions have to be made, which are in the best interest of the team. To have success, you have to take out of the equation personal situations. We certainly love loyalty but it can’t impede progress. So whatever decisions have to be made will be made.”

Perhaps not re-signing the two veterans will be a way for the Islanders to start getting younger and for Roy to mold the team as he wishes. He’s already started using Cizikas on the various more offensive-minded lines with Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal, for instance. This might have been Roy preparing to let the two older forwards go. Cizikas is 33 right now and he’s still signed for three more years. Today’s NHL is a young man’s game, it’s fast and furious and if you want to compete, you’ve got to have enough players who can thrive in that setting.

Lamoriello kept his cards close to his chest refusing to point to specific areas he’d want to improve, but in the same breath adding they wanted to improve in every area. In his mind, when you start being satisfied by something, you start getting complacent.

What Roy Had to Say

As for the head coach, Roy saw the coming in halfway through the season as an opportunity to learn, but it had its challenges:

“[…] I’m not saying the game is changing that much, but the game is still evolving year after year, and the toughest thing that I saw in me coming in halfway through the season is the lack of practice. I mean you can come with whatever you want, the structure you want, but most of your practices are morning skates, it’s hard to come up and make important changes on our team. So, yeah, I have learned a lot.”

Asked about how his new coach did, Lamoriello was eulogistic and added Roy exceeded all expectations. In other words, it seems like Lamoriello has found someone he fully trusts. Watching the press conference, it felt like Lamoriello might be preparing his exit and grooming Roy to be his replacement, but that’s a discussion for another day.