How will the New York Islanders Handle Their Management and Coaching Position Moving Forward?
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was on NHL Network and was asked by Lauren Gardner and Mike Rupp about changes happening with the New York Islanders. He was asked what comes next now that Lou Lamoriello will not be brought back, and what about the fate of head coach Patrick Roy?
NHLRumors.com Transcription
NHL News: Lou Lamoriello Let Go By New York Islanders
Lauren Gardiner: “A little breaking news earlier this , as the New York Islanders just sent out this tweet that the Isles Organization announced today that Lou Lamoriello’s contract as President and General Manager will not be renewed. Effective immediately, Operating Partner John Collins will lead a search to find the next general manager. We now welcome in our resident insider, Elliotte Friedman. Elliotte, thank you so much for joining us today. What are the next steps for this club?”
Elliotte Friedman: “Well, I think that one of the first things I wanted to check Lauren was both the tweet you just read, I was wondering if that means the Islanders were not going to be hiring a President of Hockey Operations, and they were simply looking for a general manager, and that’s one of the things that I followed up on. And I’ve been told the Islanders are willing to consider different options.
The best possible leaders that they can find, so I think they’re going to consider maybe the possibility of somebody who’s a general manager. But if they also decide to go and look at, like Ken Holland‘s name is out there a lot. I don’t think Ken Holland is approaching age 70. He is not a day-to-day General Manager anymore, but I think he could be a President of Hockey Operations with another general manager below him.
So I think that’s the first thing they’re going to determine is, do they want to go with the two-headed structure, or do they want to go, simply, with a general manager who will be in charge of building back up their hockey operations?
So I think that’s the first thing the Islanders are going to have to figure out.”
Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello Should Have Done More at the Deadline
Mike Rupp: “Elliotte, what do you think this means for head coach Patrick Roy?”
Friedman: “Well, so again, I followed up on that one too today, Michael, because I knew you guys were not going to let me go without asking this question. So what I’ve been told is that right now that Patrick Roy and the rest of the hockey operations staff are “under evaluation,” they consider to be and continue to be under evaluation too. It’s going to be up to the next person, or people who are in charge, to make that determination on Roy and the other hockey operation staff.
So they’re in a bit of limbo, but whoever gets hired will ultimately make that decision. I would say this. I think there was, I don’t even know if friction is the right word, Michael, but I think there was some debate internally about whether or not Lamoriello and Roy agreed on the way the team was playing.
Roy was comfortable playing some high-chance, high-tempo games. You played for Lamoriello. He was a more lock-it-down, button-it-up style. I think there was a bit of a disagreement over that. So we’ll see how the next person in charge feels.”
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