First things first: Lou Lamoriello will be back next season as president and general manager of the Islanders and Patrick Roy will be back as the head coach.
So no, ownership is not burning the house down after a third straight season without a playoff series victory.
But for the first time in a long time, Lamoriello sounded open to the idea that the Islanders are in need of some changes when he spoke at the team’s breakup day Friday.
“First of all, change is inevitable,” Lamoriello said. “It’s obvious when you look at the roster there are some younger players coming in that are going to demand more ice time. And we will make whatever changes are necessary to get better. Are we satisfied where we are? Absolutely not.
“But we’ll make whatever changes that we’re able to make to make this a better team.”
The Islanders have eight players hitting free agency, five of whom are unrestricted.
That includes longtime stalwarts Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck, both of whom made clear Friday they want to play in 2024-25, though it is less clear whether the Islanders plan to bring them back.
Lamoriello did not say either way whether he plans to re-sign the pair, but emphasized that the decision is about winning, not loyalty to the duo which has been synonymous with the franchise for the better part of a decade.
“Whatever decisions that have to be made that’s in the best interest of the team to have success, we will make,” he said. “We 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.”
Don’t get it twisted — the overall message from the joint presser with Roy was positive.
Both men took encouragement from how the Islanders rallied to make the playoffs. Lamoriello feels that a full training camp and season under Roy will make a difference and Roy — along with many players — pointed out how tight the five-game series against the Hurricanes was as evidence in favor of the current group.
Compared to the past acclimations of steadfast belief in the group, however, there was a notable tonal shift.
“There’s nothing sacred,” Lamoriello said. “There’s nothing that won’t be done. But it does take two to make those changes and they’ll be made appropriately if the opportunity is there. But we’re not going to just make a change for the sake of change.”
With the draft not until late June, it’s too early to make anything more than a guess at what that will mean in practice.
The Islanders still need to conduct internal exit interviews and Lamoriello could not say whether assistant coaches or the AHL staff in Bridgeport would be back for another year, let alone speak in more than broad strokes about how the franchise will approach the summer.
The goal — one the Islanders have not successfully achieved since they opened UBS Arena in 2021 — is to give fans a Stanley Cup contender to go with the glittery new building.
And the people making decisions still appear to believe the Islanders are closer to doing that than not.
“Coming short doesn’t make you feel good about it,” Roy said. “But at the same time, seeing the improvement of our team and the way that we played certainly motivated me in order to be more ready for next year.
“There was a lot of positive coming from this season. The resilience that the guys had, how we finished the year, the push that we made to make the playoffs and the way we played in the playoffs as well. So I think that the summer’s going to be good to think about how we want to approach the training camp, how we want to prepare ourselves and what we want to do in order for us to have a strong year.”
