Best Lou Lamoriello replacements after Islanders firing

The Islanders hired Patrick Roy as their head coach in January 2024. He is 55-47-17 since coming to Long Island, leading the team to the playoffs last season. Before he was in New York, Roy was the head coach and general manager of the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL. He even owned part of the team after his playing career. Roy has an outside chance of being the Islanders’ general manager.

Roy only brought one assistant coach with him to New York, Benoit Desrosiers. The rest of the staff were holdovers from Lane Lambert’s staff. If Roy is the general manager and not the coach simultaneously, Desrosiers would be a leading candidate for the head coaching job, and Roy would get to assemble the staff he’s wanted to.

Roy made it clear that he did not agree with many of Lamoriello’s roster decisions throughout the year. Pierre Engvall and Oliver Wahlstrom were both placed on waivers during the season, and Scott Mayfield was a routine healthy scratch. This would be his chance to build an NHL team in his vision.

The Islanders make history with a Hall of Famer

The Granatos are one of the great American hockey families. Tony was a 13-year NHL vet before spending three years behind the bench in Colorado and seven at the University of Wisconsin. Don was the Sabres’ head coach for four seasons in the 2020s. And their sister Cammi is the one who is in the Hall of Fame for her incredible career with Team USA. She could also become the first female general manager in NHL history.

Granato is the assistant general manager with the Vancouver Canucks since February 2022. She spent time before that as a scout for the Seattle Kraken. She has learned the ins and outs of an NHL franchise under Jim Rutherford in Vancouver and has the eye for talent as one of the great American players of the 21st century.

Granato will be an NHL GM one day if she wants to be. Her pedigree as a player speaks for itself, and she is already learning under one of the most respected GMs in the game. The Islanders can make their splash and bring in a Hall of Famer to run their squad.

Poaching a high-ranking Lightning front office member

It is common practice in the NFL for assistant general managers with one team to be poached for the big chair with another team. That is not always the case in the NHL, but the Islanders could do that with Lightning assistant GM and director of hockey operations Mathieu Darche. He has been with the Bolts since 2019 and could finally get his chance this offseason.

The Lightning have succeeded because of the NHL draft, picking the players that led to their three straight conference titles. As mentioned before, the Islanders had one of the worst AHL teams in league history last year. Hitting on draft picks outside the first round is key to rebuilding quickly. Bringing in someone from the Lightning to do that would be a smart move for Islanders ownership.