Lou out to keep Isles together
With the 2020 free-agent signing period beginning Oct. 9, Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello has made it clear his priorities are in-house.
Having finished just two wins away from qualifying for the Stanley Cup final, the Islanders proved to have a more durable foundation than many believed when they carried a seven-game losing streak into the coronavirus shutdown that suspended the regular season in March.
Lamoriello evidently saw this playoff run as a sign of what he should do this offseason, saying during his end-ofthe-season press conference that his only focus has been communicating with each and every restricted and unrestricted free agent on the roster.
“There’s room for improvement internally and if we can get better externally, we’ll certainly do that,” Lamoriello said on a
Zoom call Tuesday afternoon.
“But right now we’re going to focus in on keeping our team together.”
The Islanders’ top four UFAs are Andy Greene, Matt Martin, Derick Brassard and Tom Kuhnhackl, while Mathew Barzal, Devon Toews and Ryan Pulock are RFAs. Without any of those free agents signed, the Islanders have $8.9 million in cap space.
The pandemic-induced flat salary cap could threaten Lamoriello’s plan to keep this band together.
When the GM of the year reflected on the Islanders’ longest playoff run in nearly three decades, he said the most gratifying part was the team effort. And that is why Lamoriello is looking internally.
“It wasn’t just one player, or two players, or three players, the whole roster participated in whatever success we did have in getting ourselves two away from playing in the finals,” he said. “That to me was the most satisfying, gratifying. The good feeling that each and every player had for each other when they had success, whether a player scored an overtime goal or made a big defensive play or it was a different goalie in a game and the excitement that the goalie who didn’t play had for the person who was in the net.
“Those were the things that really were gratifying, that this was really a team. This was a collection of different talents who really came together.”
Lamoriello said there wasn’t a finalized RFA qualifying list yet, but that there will likely be “one or two that we will not qualify.”
Considering Lamoriello explicitly said in March that he would match a qualifying offer for the 23year-old Barzal, adding that it wasn’t his intention to even let it get to that point, it seems the Isles are comfortable with their RFAs situation.
As far as the UFAs go, Lamoriello said he’d “love to have Andy back.”
➤ Adam Pelech (wrist), Casey Cizikas (detached retina) and Tom Kuhnhackl (undisclosed) all underwent successful surgery after the conclusion of the season, Lamoriello said.
➤ With Ilya Sorokin signed for 2020-21 and Semyon Varlamov carrying three more years on his contract, expect Thomas Greiss to test free agency after five seasons on Long Island.