New York Islanders: Lamoriello Contract Not Renewed; John Collins Searching for Next GM

[Chockey22]

Bingo. This is why more and more in all aspects of life people reject a "trusted" news source. Arthur Staple is the reason why I once subscribed to The Athletic. Journalism in general is such a distrusted form of media that we have more than half the board openly calling Staple a liar now (which he is). Chris Botta who has nothing to lose from the aspect of breaking news at this point is more trusted than Staple who is knowingly peddling false Lou stories to gain clicks.

I don’t think it’s fair at all to call Staple a liar. He might not have had the most accurate information, or maybe speculated beyond what he could actually confirm, but that is a far cry from lying. It may also have been accurate and things changed after he reported it, no way to really know. Now, more than ever, it is necessary to be able to distinguish reasoned but unconfirmed speculation from downright lying. I’ll trust Staple and Botta and Lebrun over pretty much anyone else, including everyone on this board, on the state of the Isles search because they are in fact journalists, and do it better than any other source.

 

[YearlyLottery]

I don’t think it’s fair at all to call Staple a liar. He might not have had the most accurate information, or maybe speculated beyond what he could actually confirm, but that is a far cry from lying. It may also have been accurate and things changed after he reported it, no way to really know. Now, more than ever, it is necessary to be able to distinguish reasoned but unconfirmed speculation from downright lying. I’ll trust Staple and Botta and Lebrun over pretty much anyone else, including everyone on this board, on the state of the Isles search because they are in fact journalists, and do it better than any other source.

Are they doing it better than other sources? What is the difference between Chapin coming on here and saying he has heard Jarmo was forced to keep Panarin and Staple coming out and giving false information that Lou is staying on and having a say in decisions still only to reverse course days later?

Staple gets paid for his reporting. He probably makes a pretty good wage for it. In my opinion he has treated this entire search as a generator of clicks to make up for the last 7 years Lou was in charge. He has lost all trust and respect from me.

 

[doublechili]

I’ll trust Staple and Botta and Lebrun over pretty much anyone else, including everyone on this board, on the state of the Isles search because they are in fact journalists

I'm really just curious more than anything - is Botta really a journalist? I guess that goes to the blurring of lines these days. But he started out as more of a PR guy with the Isles. Then he started that website where he wrote mostly opinion pieces - would we call that "blogging"? He ended that and took a job (was that in PR?). And not sure what his main gig is now, but he's pretty much just sending out posts these days. Maybe I'm forgetting something, but was he ever employed as a "journalist"?

 

[periferal]

Legit floored at this "Staple sucks" movement. He's pretty much the only one reporting anything on the Isles GM/President search. I guess some are saying that he is at minimum sensationalizing his reporting, and/or doesn't really know anything at all and is just making tweets/articles to generate attention (clicks). I guess I have a "filter" on when I watch any news as there isn't one single media outlet anywhere in this country that doesn't sentationlize their reporting to generate more viewership, so I just see past all that and focus on what's being said.

The funny thing to me is...What Islander fans (on these boards or anywhere) know the absolute 100% truth about what has been going on with Malkin, Ledecky, Collins, Lou, and all the other executives/NHL people involved in this search? Literally none of us for sure.

Is it not possible that a timeline could've gone something like this...?

• Collins wanted Lou fired.
• He convinced Malkin to do so.
• Malkin still really trusts/respects Lou, so he wanted to keep Lou on to advise in the GM/President search.
• That was (accurately) reported and fan outrage, along with Malkin/Collins' finding potential GM candidates weren't comfortable with Lou being as involved, led Malkin to back off Lou and Collins/the Isles leak out that Lou would be much more marginalized than initially.
• Now the search continues on like a normal NHL team would run one.

If that happened, and not one person here can say for sure it did/didn't, then Staple's reporting would be totally accurate, and thus...All this negativity spewed towards him for being inaccurate would be completely off base.

 

[doublechili]

This is "speculation", not "journalism".

I wonder whether, or to what extent, Collins' relationships when he worked for the NHL might influence the decision? For example, did his NHL employment coincide with that of Shanahan such that they know each other personally? Ditto for Patrick Burke . And what about Colin Campbell, whose son Gregory is AGM of FLA? Personal connections matter.

BTW, Patrick Burke has a really good resume - but hasn't held a high position with an NHL club (not sure if he rose about scouting before working for the NHL). Still, he seems super smart. And he's seems to be a great communicator, something which I wonder can be said of some of the other candidates (Scott White?). I mentioned it before, Shanahan as POHO and Burke as GM makes a lot of sense, especially since they're already worked together at DOPS as #1 and #2 with the NHL.

 

[benedictTavares]

 

[Strummergas]

I know of one poster that just came in his pants....

 

[YearlyLottery]

Legit floored at this "Staple sucks" movement. He's pretty much the only one reporting anything on the Isles GM/President search. I guess some are saying that he is at minimum sensationalizing his reporting, and/or doesn't really know anything at all and is just making tweets/articles to generate attention (clicks). I guess I have a "filter" on when I watch any news as there isn't one single media outlet anywhere in this country that doesn't sentationlize their reporting to generate more viewership, so I just see past all that and focus on what's being said.

The funny thing to me is...What Islander fans (on these boards or anywhere) know the absolute 100% truth about what has been going on with Malkin, Ledecky, Collins, Lou, and all the other executives/NHL people involved in this search? Literally none of us for sure.

Is it not possible that a timeline could've gone something like this...?

• Collins wanted Lou fired.
• He convinced Malkin to do so.
• Malkin still really trusts/respects Lou, so he wanted to keep Lou on to advise in the GM/President search.
• That was (accurately) reported and fan outrage, along with Malkin/Collins' finding potential GM candidates weren't comfortable with Lou being as involved, led Malkin to back off Lou and Collins/the Isles leak out that Lou would be much more marginalized than initially.
• Now the search continues on like a normal NHL team would run one.

If that happened, and not one person here can say for sure it did/didn't, then Staple's reporting would be totally accurate, and thus...All this negativity spewed towards him for being inaccurate would be completely off base.

Perif I understand much of this post but would like to touch base on a few reasons why I have issues with how Staple has reported on this. Some of which I bolded because you even said it.

- He has 100% made this reporting into a circus from giving daily updates every day with minimal changes, making the entire fanbase up in arms about Lou staying, and mostly just writing opinion pieces while purposely not drawing a line between what is 100% fact and what is not totally confirmed.

- I am not saying he is supposed to be perfect. But can we agree that him coming out and saying Lou is going to make roster decisions/stay and then having to backtrack that less than two days later is a major, major mistake?

- I also bolded one of your bullet points. Staple's credibility among the fanbase has taken a major hit over the last couple of weeks. Don't you feel like this would have "leaked" if it were true? This is a MAJOR conclusion you are drawing to fit your narrative.

I'm sure Staple is a good guy, but it does not take away from him not doing a good job reporting on the GM search.

 

[impaaaaaact]

Perif I understand much of this post but would like to touch base on a few reasons why I have issues with how Staple has reported on this. Some of which I bolded because you even said it.

- He has 100% made this reporting into a circus from giving daily updates every day with minimal changes, making the entire fanbase up in arms about Lou staying, and mostly just writing opinion pieces while purposely not drawing a line between what is 100% fact and what is not totally confirmed.

- I am not saying he is supposed to be perfect. But can we agree that him coming out and saying Lou is going to make roster decisions/stay and then having to backtrack that less than two days later is a major, major mistake?

- I also bolded one of your bullet points. Staple's credibility among the fanbase has taken a major hit over the last couple of weeks. Don't you feel like this would have "leaked" if it were true? This is a MAJOR conclusion you are drawing to fit your narrative.

I'm sure Staple is a good guy, but it does not take away from him not doing a good job reporting on the GM search.

This is just the state of coverage now. People want constant updates and constant content. Rosner puts out like 3 articles a day and posts 20 tweets. He might just be trying to adapt

 

[Throttle]

Legit floored at this "Staple sucks" movement. He's pretty much the only one reporting anything on the Isles GM/President search. I guess some are saying that he is at minimum sensationalizing his reporting, and/or doesn't really know anything at all and is just making tweets/articles to generate attention (clicks). I guess I have a "filter" on when I watch any news as there isn't one single media outlet anywhere in this country that doesn't sentationlize their reporting to generate more viewership, so I just see past all that and focus on what's being said.

The funny thing to me is...What Islander fans (on these boards or anywhere) know the absolute 100% truth about what has been going on with Malkin, Ledecky, Collins, Lou, and all the other executives/NHL people involved in this search? Literally none of us for sure.

Is it not possible that a timeline could've gone something like this...?

• Collins wanted Lou fired.
• He convinced Malkin to do so.
• Malkin still really trusts/respects Lou, so he wanted to keep Lou on to advise in the GM/President search.
• That was (accurately) reported and fan outrage, along with Malkin/Collins' finding potential GM candidates weren't comfortable with Lou being as involved, led Malkin to back off Lou and Collins/the Isles leak out that Lou would be much more marginalized than initially.
• Now the search continues on like a normal NHL team would run one.

If that happened, and not one person here can say for sure it did/didn't, then Staple's reporting would be totally accurate, and thus...All this negativity spewed towards him for being inaccurate would be completely off base.

So, if you can’t prove the negative, then it must be true. Whoa. Red alert.

 

[MikeyMike01]

 

[periferal]

- I also bolded one of your bullet points. Staple's credibility among the fanbase has taken a major hit over the last couple of weeks. Don't you feel like this would have "leaked" if it were true? This is a MAJOR conclusion you are drawing to fit your narrative.

I'm sure Staple is a good guy, but it does not take away from him not doing a good job reporting on the GM search.

Hey YL-

I really don't care for Staple much either way. I'm not here to bash him or save him. And thus my "narrative" is simply that I noticed that Staple was taking a lot of heat, and I'm not understanding why.

Because Staple is basically the only one reporting on the Isles GM/President search. Even Botta, who has seemed to have some good insights, even admits that when the Isles are ready to make an announcement that another reporter "like Staple" will probably be the one(s) to break it.

And no I don't think it's automatic that any news from Islander management/ownership would definitely "leak" out. Guys like LeBrun, Dreger, Friedman, Johnston, Severall are all reputable reporters, but they're more Canadien-based and work backwards from there. Lou may have put a "no media leak" clampdown on the Isles the last 6+ years, but Staple still probably has more relationships inside their building than any other reporter. So I actually would expect him to have information/a story before most any other NHL reporter.

And I just don't believe that Staple (or any other reporter I've mentioned), would make up a story or put out a false report. That's putting their career on the line so unnecessarily. If you want to say that Staple might post "non news" that has already been reported and doesn't add anything new, I can totally get behind that. However I don't think Staple is reporting that Lou will be an active advisor and then report something else a few days later just to get clicks. That's the kind of thing that could get him ousted from his job if incorrect. There's so many other ways to get clicks than putting your livelihood at risk.

 

[YearlyLottery]

Hey YL-

I really don't care for Staple much either way. I'm not here to bash him or save him. And thus my "narrative" is simply that I noticed that Staple was taking a lot of heat, and I'm not understanding why.

Because Staple is basically the only one reporting on the Isles GM/President search. Even Botta, who has seemed to have some good insights, even admits that when the Isles are ready to make an announcement that another reporter "like Staple" will probably be the one(s) to break it.

And no I don't think it's automatic that any news from Islander management/ownership would definitely "leak" out. Guys like LeBrun, Dreger, Friedman, Johnston, Severall are all reputable reporters, but they're more Canadien-based and work backwards from there. Lou may have put a "no media leak" clampdown on the Isles the last 6+ years, but Staple still probably has more relationships inside their building than any other reporter. So I actually would expect him to have information/a story before most any other NHL reporter.

And I just don't believe that Staple (or any other reporter I've mentioned), would make up a story or put out a false report. That's putting their career on the line so unnecessarily. If you want to say that Staple might post "non news" that has already been reported and doesn't add anything new, I can totally get behind that. However I don't think Staple is reporting that Lou will be an active advisor and then report something else a few days later just to get clicks. That's the kind of thing that could get him ousted from his job if incorrect. There's so many other ways to get clicks than putting your livelihood at risk.

This is a really fair thought process. I think our difference of opinion may be that I view part of his job to dissect the false information from the truth when reporting it to us. I understand mistakes are made but that is a pretty big mistake to make.

 

[periferal]

This is a really fair thought process. I think our difference of opinion may be that I view part of his job to dissect the false information from the truth when reporting it to us. I understand mistakes are made but that is a pretty big mistake to make.

But again...If he's not, "dissecting the false information from the truth"...Then he's reporting false information - And there's no bigger way to get fired from a reporting job than reporting misinformation. That's why I think if he's reporting something, he's verified it, and it is true.

So again to me if Staple reported that Lou was going to be an involved advisor in the President/GM search then to me it means that probably that was the case early on and Malkin/Collins changed their mind about Lou's role after the report came out.

Don't forget...Lou's name was originally wiped from the Isles website right after being "non renewed." Then a few days later it was put back up (and is still there). Staple had nothing to do with that happening, so there's a few things going on behind closed doors that suggest not everyone in the Isles front office is on the same page, and/or changing their mind about things. So what's true one day might not be the next, and thus conflicting reports could both be true depending on when they were reported.

 

[boredmale]

Don't forget...Lou's name was originally wiped from the Isles website right after being "non renewed." Then a few days later it was put back up (and is still there). Staple had nothing to do with that happening, so there's a few things going on behind closed doors that suggest not everyone in the Isles front office is on the same page, and/or changing their mind about things. So what's true one day might not be the next, and thus conflicting reports could both be true depending on when they were reported.

I am just going on speculation here with 0 proof. But I think Islanders will try make a play for Shanahan if the Leafs can him and if that's the case they will need an interim GM till Shanahan gets here on July 1. If Shanahan is hired I could see Lou staying on in a limited role

All that being said I have some weird fantasy that the Islanders will somehow end up with Marner either on draft day or July first so every move I make in my head somehow links to Marner playing for us in 2025-26. lol

 

[Throttle]

I am just going on speculation here with 0 proof. But I think Islanders will try make a play for Shanahan if the Leafs can him and if that's the case they will need an interim GM till Shanahan gets here on July 1. If Shanahan is hired I could see Lou staying on in a limited role

If they want Shanahan and Toronto doesn’t get past FL, then he’ll be available probably pretty quickly and they’ll let him talk to teams before his contract runs out.

 

[boredmale]

If they want Shanahan and Toronto doesn’t get past FL, then he’ll be available probably pretty quickly and they’ll let him talk to teams before his contract runs out.

Still I think it would be a case that he can negotiate but he can't technically be the GM till July 1. I know that was the case with Lamoriello when we hired him, he technically couldn't play any part in the Islanders 2018 draft

 

[Throttle]

Still I think it would be a case that he can negotiate but he can't technically be the GM till July 1. I know that was the case with Lamoriello when we hired him, he technically couldn't play any part in the Islanders 2018 draft

That’s all contractual and can be negotiated. Lou also went from GM to GM.

I doubt Shanahan goes from POHO to GM. He’ll just wait out another POHO gig.

 

[doublechili]

I am just going on speculation here with 0 proof. But I think Islanders will try make a play for Shanahan if the Leafs can him and if that's the case they will need an interim GM till Shanahan gets here on July 1. If Shanahan is hired I could see Lou staying on in a limited role

All that being said I have some weird fantasy that the Islanders will somehow end up with Marner either on draft day or July first so every move I make in my head somehow links to Marner playing for us in 2025-26. lol

How about:

POHO: Shanahan
GM: Brandon Pridham
AGM: Patrick Burke
Something: Matt Martin

I mentioned the Shanahan/Burke connection previously (Shanny was #1 and Burke #2 at NHL DOPS). Here's a good article re: Pridham and the high regard he's held in by Shanahan, and elsewhere. (this article is from when Dubas was let go 41 days before the draft that year):

"One name that Shanahan repeatedly mentioned will be worth keeping a very close eye on as the GM search continues: current Leafs assistant GM Brandon Pridham. “I think that that some (personnel) decisions have to be the responsibility of the new general manager. And I think in the meantime, I’m going to lean heavily on (Pridham),” Shanahan said. So without saying it outright, it certainly feels like Pridham will be the interim GM, if not in official title."

Brandon Pridham as Leafs GM? Let’s read into Brendan Shanahan’s comments

Shanahan seemed to point toward Pridham, Toronto's assistant GM, as Kyle Dubas' interim replacement, but what about the permanent job?

www.nytimes.com

 

[boredmale]

How about:

POHO: Shanahan
GM: Brandon Pridham
AGM: Patrick Burke
Something: Matt Martin

if that somehow means Marner is an Islander come July 2 I am all for it. lol

I just imagine a Eiserman-Hagens-Marner first line but hell Marner probably would work well with Horvat as well(I go under the assumption if we can get Marner we probably would have to trade Barzal to clear up capspace, especially if we resign Dobson)

 

[Glory Days]

Isn’t Chevy’s contract up after this season? Maybe waiting for him as POHO?

 

[boredmale]

Isn’t Chevy’s contract up after this season? Maybe waiting for him as POHO?

Chevy comes back to where he began. lol

Kevin Cheveldayoff Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics and Records of Kevin Cheveldayoff, a hockey player and coach from Saskatoon, SASK born Feb 4 1970 who was active from 1986 to 1994.

www.hockeydb.com

 

[Isles72]

Isn’t Chevy’s contract up after this season? Maybe waiting for him as POHO?

he's a good gm though ; would be a waste making him all presidential hehe

 

[WangMustGo]

if that somehow means Marner is an Islander come July 2 I am all for it. lol

I just imagine a Eiserman-Hagens-Marner first line but hell Marner probably would work well with Horvat as well(I go under the assumption if we can get Marner we probably would have to trade Barzal to clear up capspace, especially if we resign Dobson)

We aren’t getting Hagens. It’s Schaefer or Misa and I would lean 90% towards Schaefer. Hagens may not even go top 5 let alone #1

 

[seafoam]

We aren’t getting Hagens. It’s Schaefer or Misa and I would lean 90% towards Schaefer. Hagens may not even go top 5 let alone #1

I could definitely see the top 5 as some combination of Schaefer/Desnoyers/Frondell/Misa/Martone.

I wonder if PHI would be interested in Dobson for 6th overall? They only have Drysdale as a young NHL RD and Bonk as a prospect. Ristolainen is 30...

Of course they could take Mrkta or trade down and try to do the same thing allowing Hagens to fall to Boston at #7. Hell, Boston might think Brady Martin is a better fit than Hagens for their brand of hockey and then all of the sudden Hagens joins Berniers/Wright/Catton/McCann/Tolvanen/Kakko/Kartye in Seattle.