Lamoriello cleans house in New York

Lou Lamoriello moved quickly to shake up the New York Islanders by firing general manager Garth Snow and coach Doug Weight and naming himself the team’s new GM just two weeks after taking over as president of hockey operations.

Lamoriello made the moves Tuesday that begin to reshape the organization in his image, two weeks to the day ownership said he’d have “full authority over all hockey matters.” Lamoriello left the Toronto Maple Leafs to run the Islanders and will begin the search for a new coach immediately.

“There’s a culture change that’s needed and there’s new voices needed in different areas, and because of that, the changes (were) made,” Lamoriello said on a conference call. “There’s been a lot of changes for different reasons, and right now is just trying to stabilize anything, start off with a fresh face, start off with a fresh mind, a fresh coach, and just go forward.” The end of Snow’s tenure seemed inevitable after owners Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin brought in Lamoriello to oversee the hockey operations department. Snow was previous owner Charles Wang’s hire. The Islanders missed the playoffs eight times in Snow’s 12 years as general manager, including the past two seasons. He has four years left on the contract he signed when Wang still owned the team. This latest front-office development comes with the Islanders at a crossroads. Face of the franchise John Tavares can become a free agent July 1. The team took one step toward making Tavares feel comfortable about re-signing by planning a permanent home at Belmont Park after spending the last three seasons playing at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, but the direction of the organization still threatens to push the superstar centre into leaving.

Lamoriello said Tavares’ situation “certainly has not and did not enter into any of the decisions that are made.”