After Islanders Breakup Day, What’s Next For Lou Lamoriello And Patrick Roy?

Breakup day came and went Saturday for the Islanders without Lou Lamoriello or Patrick Roy speaking, which means the most pressing questions about a pivotal offseason remain unanswered.

This is standard operating procedure for the Islanders, whose top-level executives carry themselves with the type of mystery and secrecy the Bill Belichicks of the world like to think they’ve mastered. Thank goodness we’ll never have to worry about hearing Lamoriello or Scott Malkin trying to yuk it up with the overaged bros on sophomoric television shows.

But sooner than later, Lamoriello and/or Malkin will need to declare — with actions, if not words — how they plan to go about retooling the Islanders after a disappointing season that emphatically confirmed the championship window for this iteration of the team has slammed shut and frankly has probably been shut since the Game 7 loss to the Lightning on June 25, 2021.

Lamoriello and Malkin, of course, aren’t much for leaving bread crumbs, so it doesn’t behoove anyone to try and guess what they’ll do. And when it comes to Lamoriello — who has been an executive for 38 consecutive NHL seasons — there’s little doubt he wants to continue as the Islanders’ president and GM.

Yet if Malkin is pondering Lamoriello’s future, it’s worth wondering which body of work he will emphasize as he determines the Islanders’ near- and medium-term future — one which shouldn’t include a rebuild but will require the threading of a delicate and narrow needle in order to construct a team that can return to contender status.

Few executives in the history of any sport can match the resume of Lamoriello, who won three Stanley Cups with the Devils before he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009. He also has locked up core Islanders Mathew Barzal, Bo Horvat and Ilya Sorokin through at least 2030.

But his recent additions and reinforcements include Scott Mayfield, Pierre Engvall and Anthony Duclair, all of whom are buyout candidates this summer. Mayfield and Engvall, each of whom signed seven-year extensions following the 2022-23 season, were regular healthy scratches this season. Duclair signed a four-year deal last summer and never got untracked after an early-season lower-body injury before he missed the final eight games while on a leave of absence after Roy called his performance “God awful” following a loss to the Lightning on Apr. 1.

Roy’s comments about Duclair served as the latest reminder the unfiltered Roy and the buttoned-up Lamoriello are an odd pairing — one whose fates may be tied to the other. When it comes to bread crumbs, Roy might have dropped an awfully interesting one way back on Jan. 20, 2024, when Lamoriello surprised just about everybody by naming him as the replacement for the fired Lane Lambert.

“I also want to thank our owner Mr. Malkin for this opportunity,” Roy said.

Malkin is rarely mentioned by Islanders on (or near) the ice. Was Roy merely expressing his gratitude at being brought out of NHL exile, or was it an acknowledgment the famously hands-off Malkin had a larger-than-usual role in the hiring process?

The unlikely partnership worked well last season as the Islanders mounted a sprint to the playoffs, but there were occasional signs of friction this season. After making a series of roster moves, Lamoriello spoke instead of Roy prior to a game against the Panthers on Oct. 26. Hours later, following a 6-3 loss, Roy referenced Lamoriello’s role in Engvall and Matt Martin making their season debuts in the defeat.

Those comments lent a little more intrigue to the subsequent scratchings of Mayfield, Engvall and Martin — the latter of whom was a healthy absence for 30 consecutive games before he likely skated into retirement by playing the final eight games of the season.

Of course, if Lamoriello and Roy agreed on everything, they’d be the first general manager/coach tandem to do so in history. But it may be up to Malkin to determine if their partnership can remain harmonious while they team up to oversee the first real retooling of the Islanders in more than a decade. The clock is ticking.