Are we all now willing to admit replacing Snow with Lamiorello was a terrible decision very few here have a leg to stand on. I mean seriously folks this is what it all boils down to. All these problems began the moment he became GM of this team. Everyone gave this guy the Caesar victory parade when he came in that somehow he returned respectability to this franchise. What good has he done? Either you like what he did or you don't. He built this team. He hired all these coaches. He made this purported mess of things. These not only can be true but ARE true.
No we are not willing to admit replacing Snow with Lamoriello was a terrible decision. The organization was a joke before Lou got here. Lou changed the culture of the organization and made this a place that players wouldn't fly the coop like John Tavares did. If things were so bad here. Barzal and Horvat don't resign. Especially Bo who bought what Lou was selling and signed for 8 years without ever having set foot on Long Island.
You can like what Lou did up to a point.
This is not an all or nothing proposition. Lou had successes here that included hiring Barry Trotz...the right coach for a team that was low on talent and easy to play against. Trotz remains the only coach to get his roster to outperform the level of their talent.
The problem with Lou's tenure on the Island is what I've said all along, doubling down on a team that went to the semi-finals twice, not winning a Stanley Cup, instead of realizing that was as good as they were going to get, and he needed to improve the talent on the team. Instead Lou botched the way he handled contract extensions during the flat cap COVID years by giving long term contracts to middle of the lineup players. As a result he painted himself into a salary cap corner.
So in essence the Islanders got to a crossroads after the 2022 season and Lamoriello chose the wrong road, giving the benefit of the doubt to a team that had some playoff success and thinking COVID was a one off season. The trouble is that team he gave a second chance wasn't a championship team and needed to be improved on. And it went south from there.
You can be right until you are wrong. Lou made a wrong judgement call that came with disastrous results. That doesn't mean his hiring was a mistake right from the start.