Maybe, but there is a bit of a false equivalence of the above to the “Lou definitely won’t trade the UFAs” concerns.
It is much more likely that he’ll hold onto the UFAs than he was to trade the first round pick last year.
I like to see what is done before I freak out. Some prefer to freak out all the time and never admit they were wrong, they just move the goal posts to the next thing they can complain about.
If Lou Runs the same team back out there next year how many will defend him?
Are we trying to win a championship or just treading water so everyone is comfy on the Island?
This Core ain't winning shit....
I don't think any/many are defending him now, the current discussion is about the past. Most want him replaced but some people want to keep rehashing the past so they can talk about how right they were.
"The facts don't change because of your opinion on the matter, even if you might be right. "
This sentence is funny. If I'm right then I am aligned with the facts and opinions don't matter.
That doesn't logically follow from what I said.
I legit don't care really who gets the credit for past accomplishments. I just want the Isles to win a Cup - Period. I only bring up what's happened before as context to show what's going wrong with the 2025 Islanders (and hopefully how to fix those issue).
I mean, we've had multiple discussions that suggest otherwise. You constantly bring up how Lamoriello was trash and Trotz was the best. It is very clear you care to make that distinction.
Like for example...How can you reconcile the night and day difference in the Isles results (wins, losses, and playoff performances) when Trotz was here vs since Lou removed him?
Okay, let's take a look. Again, I really like Trotz and think he did an excellent job.
Goals for has generally gone up since Trotz was let go. Goals against has also gone up, but if we look at Lambert's first year (which is most applicable because the roster was most similar) goal scoring and goals against both improved over the year before with Trotz. How did Lambert manage to have a better year than Trotz with virtually the same roster?
The two years following his departure the team had a higher points percentage. This year it's the worst we've seen since before Trotz joined the team. How did Lambert/Roy manage to have a better a better points percentage than Trotz with virtually the same roster?
You can have exactly the same roster from one year to the next and you may not get the same results. Players get older, slower, their ability to be motivated changes, etc. Things in the sports world aren't static so what I think happened with Trotz and why is last year was so bad is because many players do not respond to the same tactics over long periods of time, especially if they're very demanding. I often think there's a benefit to having coaches like Trotz or Tortorella for a period of time for young teams because it helps instill good habits. Then teams can go out and bring in someone less demanding and it allows for the players to be a bit more creative while holding onto those habits from the previous coach. Over time that erodes and the seesaw continues.
I think that during the early years Lamoriello was making the right moves with the roster, adding depth along the way. Then he made poor decisions with the roster which led to the staleness we saw since. A prime example, Cizikas, Clutterbuck, and Martin should've been dismantle a long time ago. It was the same line combination over a long period of time but it was fairly obvious they were slowing down and becoming less effective. By not removing that line sooner it causes and issue with the roster for any coach because the depth isn't where it was, even though it was the same players. Guys like Andy Greene were good for a short duration but were kept too long. That happened to quite a few guys. The roster never had an infusion of youth or talent, so it got older and slower, and worse in the games.
It isn't an excuse but the flat cap negatively impacted the roster for sure. Forcing the trade of Toews and severely restricting what players could be brought in to help. Some of the issues were because of poor GMing and some of it was just plain bad luck on the timing of it all. Now we saw some wiggle room with the cap for the first time recently and Lamoriello made some good moves along with some boneheaded ones (Horvat, Mayfield, Varlamov). It's clear he's not making the right moves and it doesn't appear that Roy is happy with the roster construction.
I think Trotz is clearly the best coach out of him, Lambert, and Roy. Followed by Roy. Trotz played a system that allows for less talented teams to stay in games and win (Tortorella does the same thing). Lambert seemed like a coach who was unsure of himself and what he wanted players to do, almost as if he was trying to differentiate himself from Trotz. Roy clearly has a system he wants to run but it's unclear if the system will work or if the roster will be able to run it effectively. If Trotz were brought for next season with this roster, are they making the playoffs? I'd bet they would be a bubble team just like they have been most of this year.
