SAN JOSE, Calif. — Lou Lamoriello did not give off the sense of someone satisfied with how the trade deadline went when he spoke to reporters before the Islanders beat the Sharks 4-2 on Saturday.
Though happy with the return, namely prospect Calum Ritchie, the Islanders GM confirmed he would have rather kept Brock Nelson, but traded him because the team’s contract overtures were rebuffed.
And though he’s trying to extend Kyle Palmieri, Lamoriello will be looking for more change — namely to make the Islanders younger — over the summer, when Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anders Lee’s names will likely be atop the rumor mill.
“If we could have gotten younger and better, other than draft picks, we would have done it without question,” Lamoriello said. “We felt that where a few of our players are — when I say a few, several of our players we could have made moves with — they would be better done at a different time. What we need to infuse in the lineup, those players would be available. That’s a decision we made.
“Along the way we also tried to look at this season. We’re four points out [as of Saturday morning], not to give up in any way whatsoever on the guys in that room, without hurting what the mission was to go into the trade deadline. And it ended up the way it was. But I can assure you that if there were other players, not of the caliber we got but close to that, there would have been a lot more moves.”
Lamoriello is not going near the word “rebuild” — which he called a decade-long process and has no interest in doing.
Retool, though, might be more accurate.
“I can’t find the best word for it, but we know we have to do more than what just transpired,” Lamoriello said. “We feel very strongly on that.”
Palmieri, it sounds like, will be a part of whatever comes next as his camp works with Lamoriello on an extension, the Islanders having elected to keep the pending free agent on Friday morning.
So too will Ritchie, the center acquired from the Avalanche who could have a chance at making the roster next season.
“Any of the teams we talked to [for Nelson], it had to be their top prospect,” Lamoriello said. “And I feel very fortunate for the organization that we were able to get the quality player who plays that position and was able to basically come right into the lineup [for Colorado]. And the reason that he only played [seven] games this year is they wanted to save the year of the contract at an entry level.”
The Islanders presented a united front Saturday, with principal owner Scott Malkin — who rarely appears in public and spends significant time in London — greeting reporters along with Lamoriello.
Malkin declined to take questions Saturday. With much of the fan base frustrated with Lamoriello, it looked like a signal that ownership is content, and Lamoriello used the chance to confirm that he does, in fact, have a boss.
“Anybody out there who thinks anybody in my position just works in autonomy, there is no person in my position in any of the four professional sports that does that,” Lamoriello said. “So why and where all this comes from, I don’t know.”
What the end vision here is — and how close the Islanders will ultimately come to it — isn’t entirely clear. But even if the pace of change is slower than it could have been, it’s unlikely that Nelson will be the only longtime Islander to move on before the end of next season.
“There will be change this summer,” Lamoriello said. “Until there’s change, you can’t say how much. But I can assure you there will be change.”