Welcome To New York Lou

It has been a long time since the New York Islanders have really had a man in charge of this calibre. New York just brought in somebody with a pedigree of winning. They've got their man now, somebody who is expected to help point this team in the right direction and get the Islanders back on track to try and win a Stanley Cup. The man chosen to lead them back to the promise land from the front office is Lou Lamoriello. Lou has been hired as President of Hockey Operations, giving him full authority over all hockey matters with the organization.

Lou brings to the organization a very impressive resume from the world of hockey. He joined the NHL in 1987, becoming President and General Manager of the New Jersey Devils, a position which he held until 2015, which was the 3rd longest tenured run as a General Manager in NHL history. After leaving New Jersey, Lou moved on to Toronto to become the General Manager of the Maple Leafs, a position he held until last week. Now he comes aboard as President for the Islanders. During Lou's tenure running the Devils, New Jersey went to the Stanley Cup Playoffs 21 times. During that time, Jersey posted thirteen 100-point seasons, winning nine division titles, appeared in the Stanley Cup Final five times and won three championships (1995, 2000 and 2003). Jersey also had a stretch of thirteen consecutive post-season berths from 1997 to 2010.

After turning the Devils into one of the most successful franchises in the NHL, Lamoriello decided it was time to step down and take on another tasks, running the Toronto Maple Leafs. Under his guidance, Toronto had turned from a 29 win team in his first year, to winning 40 and 49 games the last two seasons, reaching the playoffs both times. Which shows just how well of a job Lamoriello can do running a franchise. When he was informed by Leafs management and Brendan Shanahan that he wouldn't be staying on as GM, Lou decided to move on, and here we are with him as the Islanders President of Hockey Operations.

Lamoriello is well known in NHL circles for his hard-nosed approach to contract negotiations, and also being known for showing consistent shrewdness in identifying and signing top talent that other teams were passing over. Two of his biggest prized draft picks, Martin Broduer (20th overall) and Patrik Elias (51st overall) went on to have pretty good careers with the Devils. There's hope that he can bring some of that quality drafting to the Islanders starting this year.

What does this mean for the future of the Islanderrs?

Could mean that Garth Snow's job could be on the line. Snow's track record, at least in my eyes, hasn't been that great as of late. The fact that John Tavares hasn't signed a new contract yet is quite shocking for a guy who's the face of the franchise. Maybe by bringing in a guy of Lamoriello's talent to run this team could convince Tavares to want to come back and take a shot at winning a Cup with the franchise that drafted him. The team has some good young talent. Tavares will hopefully stick around, they've got a great young stud in Matthew Barzal, Josh Bailey had a really coming out party the last two seasons. There's something to really work with on the blue line as well with guys like Scott Mayfield and Calvin De Haan. Having that good young mix together could be something that Lou could work with in running this team.

What will the future hold for the Islanders franchise? Who knows. But steps have been taken in the right direction over the last few months. Got a brand new home to play in over in Belmont, they will be playing games at Nassau Coliseum during the season until Belmont is ready. Now there's this. Things could be looking up for the Islanders.