Trusted Advisor

Lamoriello's post-GM and POHO occupation revealed

Good Morning, Islanders Country.

Of course, Lou Lamoriello wasn’t going to disappear into retirement. Of course, he wasn’t going to slip quietly into the golf-course sunset. That’s not in his wiring, not in his DNA, not in the way he’s lived six decades in this sport without ever once drifting to the margins. And while there will always be the “just go away already” crowd — there always is — most Islanders fans remember exactly what this franchise looked like before he arrived.

Which is why, if owner Scott Malkin, a highly successful Harvard-educated real-estate developer worth hundreds of millions, wants an 83-year-old hockey lifer as a trusted advisor, it’s because he believes it’s what’s best for the New York Islanders off the ice while Mathieu Darche runs the show on it.

The way it should be, for all parties. Lou, the fans, and ownership.

Lamoriello spoke publicly for the first time since being let go as GM back in April, and he sounded… peaceful. That alone feels historic. “There are more nights you sleep much better,” he joked to Pierre LeBrun in The Athletic, acknowledging the strange new quiet of a life without charter flights, trade deadlines, and the nightly heartbeat of running a team.