The Islanders will maintain the status quo when the 2023-24 season begins, with president and general manager Lou Lamoriello and head coach Lane Lambert remaining in their respective positions, the team announced Tuesday.
As the Islanders look to return to competitive relevancy after their first-round exit from the playoffs, Lamoriello held his first press conference since April 1 and shared a message similar to the one he delivered after the club missed the playoffs following the 2021-22 season.
“I believe in this team, it’s obvious,” Lamoriello told reporters Tuesday at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow. “I believed in it coming into this season and I still do. To say that there’s any discouragement? No. Disappointment in the way we played in that playoff series, as far as it could’ve gone either way. All respect to Carolina. I thought that we hurt ourselves and beat ourselves in a way …
“The bad news is, that occurred. The good news is, that it’s something that can be corrected and will be corrected.”
It sounds as if the Islanders will be primed to run it back with the core that made it to the conference finals in the COVID-19 impacted campaigns of 2019-20 and 2020-21, but failed to make the postseason in 2021-22 and then lost to the Hurricanes in six games this season.
Islanders coach Lane Lambert will also return for the 2023-24 season.Paul J. BereswillLamoriello said he intends to prioritize the club’s key free agents — Zach Parise, Scott Mayfield, Pierre Engvall and Semyon Varlamov — but his tune was different regarding the club’s longest tenured player, Josh Bailey.
“Loyalty will never get in the way of impeding progress or making whatever decisions I have a responsibility to make,” Lamoriello said when asked about Bailey, who has spent 15 seasons on Long Island and will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. “Never. In Josh’s case, it looks like, maybe, it’s near the end here.
“In our situation, Josh and I have, I think a man-to-man relationship as far as honesty, and we will work with him — whatever — to help him, but my priority is doing what’s best for the team.”
During the Islanders’ breakup day, Bailey said he did not want to return as a depth player.
The tenure of Josh Bailey, battling the Penguins’ Rickard Rakell for the puck, in the words of Lou Lamoriello “it looks like, maybe, it’s near the end here.”APThe 33-year-old forward was memorably forced to skate in his 1,000th career game on the road after Lambert made him a healthy scratch in what would have been Game No. 999.
While Lambert will return behind the Islanders bench, Lamoriello neglected to say whether the entire coaching staff would be back next season.
That means the job status of assistant coaches Doug Houda and John MacLean, goaltending coaches Mitch Korn and Piero Greco are up in the air.
On the injury front, Lamoriello said Oliver Wahlstrom (knee surgery) and Alex Romanov (shoulder surgery) will both be ready for the start of training camp.
There is also the matter of Ilya Sorokin, who is a finalist for the 2022-23 Vezina Trophy and is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Lamoriello said he would “certainly like to” get Sorokin’s next contract done as the 27-year-old Russian netminder embarks on his contract year.
Lamoriello appears set on keeping the nuts and bolts of the Islanders together, while making necessary adjustments that don’t necessarily subtract from what’s already in place.
The Islanders needed all 82 contests to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup playoffs this past season.
There were difficult times, including a 3-7-3 stretch in January, which cast doubt over the solidity of the core.
Between the acquisitions of Bo Horvat and Engvall ahead of the trade deadline, the emergence of Hudson Fasching, and a strong second-half finish, however, the Islanders squeezed into the tournament at the 11th hour by going 19-9-4 in the final 32 games.
Lamoriello said “the goal is to” play in the Stanley Cup final, which the Islanders have not reached since 1984.
“Our ownership has given us every resource and every possible thing that we need to do it,” Lamoriello said. “It’s on us to do that.
“We have to get better. I have to get better. Our coaching staff has to get better. Our players have to get better. The inconsistency has to be taken care of.”
