We've got more information about why Lu Lamarello was let go by the New York Islanders and what it means for the franchise. Plus, fans are upset after the Islanders made this controversial move. We'll break it all down for you next on today's Locked On Islanders podcast.
You're Locked On Islanders, your daily podcast on the New York Islanders, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. Welcome everybody to the Thursday edition of the Locked On Islanders podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.
I want to thank everyone who makes Locked On Islanders your first listen every day. Don't forget to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts so you get new episodes as soon as they drop. I'm Gil Martin.
I've been covering the New York Islanders for almost two decades and I wrote the book Ice Wars on the history of the Islanders rivalry with the New York Rangers from 1972 to the modern era. So glad you could join us today to talk a little Islanders hockey and we have got a busy show. We've got a little more information about some of the behind the scenes maneuvers that led to Lou Lamarella's dismissal.
We've got a questionable, in fact, bad move by the New York Islanders regarding their radio broadcast. An old fan favorite has announced his retirement. And we have our final farm report of the season.
So, lots to get to on today's show. We got to start with the Lou Lamarillo firing situation. Technically, I guess not a firing, just that his contract was not renewed.
And it makes a lot of sense if you think about it that Lu Lamarello was on a yearto-year kind of a situation because well, you know, at his age, year to year made a lot of sense. But here is what we learned. And it was Elliot Freriedman on uh his 32 thoughts podcast talking about why Lou Lamarella was ultimately ultimately let go.
And apparently this move was almost made midseason and that was way back in December that the Islanders almost fired Lamarello and that did not obviously happen. But basically, you had a bit of a problem, a bit of an internal disagreement between John Collins, who is now in charge of hiring the new president and probably the new general manager. He is a minority owner and the director of business operations and Lou Lamarello.
And basically what Freriedman said, I heard at the end of the year that John Collins, who was going to be handling the search as they announced, was running the business side of the Islanders. He's a very, very sharp guy, a very smart guy. And there was a point during the season where he stepped away because he and Lamarella were not seeing eye to eye.
Lamarello has a certain way that he believes things need to be done. And even though he's in charge of hockey, he believes that hockey should be left to hockey and business should be something else. They just weren't seeing eye to eye.
Now, keep in mind, Collins became a partner in June of 2023, and that's kind of where the the friction started. But ultimately, while there was friction between Collins and Lamarello, the other issue is the ultimate decision maker is majority owner Scott Malcin. And Malcin wanted to keep Lou, but the way the season ended kind of changed things.
And again, Freriedman says, "I think he was leaning for a long time to giving Lamarello another year, but then some of the results late in the year, including the 9-2 loss to the Rangers, I think it really changed things. " And I think at the last minute, he kind of agreed it was maybe time to do something different. I don't think it was an easy decision, but I think he felt it was the right decision.
And it was surprising because I think there were a lot of people who believed that Lamarella was going to be given another year. Another issue that was discussed and I think everydayers you'll remember we alluded to it several times over the course of the season that there was friction between Lou Lamarella and Patrick Wah and you know we don't know the full extent of the disagreement but I think more than anything it came down to style. Lu Lamarello wants to play more of a defense first.
You build from the goalie out kind of a system. That's what they played under Barry Trotz and it worked under Barry Trotz. It did not work as well when Lane Lambert tried to loosen it up a little bit.
And then Patrick Wah on the other hand wants to play more of a offensive oriented open style and the roster that Lou Lamarella had was not conducive to that. And you'll remember during the course of the season that the New York Islanders got better and played better hockey, especially in their own zone when injuries hit the blue line. And Lou Lamarella, who did he sign?
He brought in smaller and more mobile defensemen that were a little better suited to playing Patrick W's style and we did see an initial bump in play. Now they couldn't sustain it and I think part of the problem was that when everybody got healthy there was you know again a conflict. Do you want the smaller, more mobile defenseman who can play W system or do you go back to some of the guys like Scott Mayfield and you know Ryan Pock and and Adam Pelock who maybe didn't fit W system as well but you know look you had a guy like Mayfield who Lou signed and everydayers know we've discussed the foolishness of the length of this contract but he signed Mayfield to a 7year deal with now five years left on that deal.
And he was benched. He was, you know, sitting a healthy scratch for a whole bunch of games when everybody got healthy later in the season. So again, you see guys that Lou signed, Patrick Wad didn't necessarily have great use for.
Pierre Angval, another case in point. Angal is somebody that Lou signed again to a 7-year contract. Before the season even started, he didn't even make the team.
Now, part of that, admittedly, was cap related because the Islanders had cap problems. They needed to free up enough space to field a roster and Enval cost more than a lot of the other guys who ended up making the team. But it wasn't just that.
It was that Enval did not play the style that Wah wanted him to play. And you saw over the course of the season, Patrick Wah, he called out only a handful of players. We talked about Anthony Duclair every day as you'll remember.
Samuel Bulldook is one, but he called out Pierre Angal not once but several times by name. And here was a guy who Lou wanted to be part of this team and who Wah many times did not seem to have a need for or a desire to put him in the lineup. And you heard midseason that Patrick Wah said, "Hey, this is the team that Lou gave me and I'm going to coach it to the best of my ability.
" And every day will recall at the time I said that, you know, here it sounds like there could be a a bit of tension between general manager and coach about the way this roster is constructed. And that appears to be borne out by what Freriedman said about that relationship that you were kind of taking square pegs and trying to put them into round holes. or to say it more in hockey parlament, you're taking guys who were best developed uh and best suited to play Barry Trotz's style of hockey and have them try to fit into Patrick W's more offensive-minded, faster moving, open hockey style, and it just wasn't a good fit.
So the obvious question that comes out of that is does Patrick Wah deserve another year to see if if you give him a roster that is better suited to his style of play, what can he do with it? And the answer is we don't know. But whoever the new president and then the president will likely sign a new general manager, those two people hopefully working together are going to determine the future of Patrick Wah.
And you know, we're going to talk about this more on tomorrow's show and and throughout the off season until we know what's going to happen to Patrick Wah. But essentially, this is a situation where Wah never had the tools to make the team the way he wanted to to put it together and instead he had to play with lose team. It didn't work and there clearly was some disconnect here.
It needs to be addressed and it can be addressed in two ways. Either you bring in a GM who likes what Wah wants to do and gives him the tools to do it and W comes back one more year with a chance to show what he could do or the new president and new GM. It could be one PE person, it could be two, probably two, but we'll see.
But that, you know, the GM and the president will determine they don't think Wah is a good fit for what they want to do and they will bring in their own coach. So, it could go either way. And I I'm going to talk more about this on tomorrow's show.
So, everydayers, please make sure you join me and we'll go over the pros and the cons of bringing back Patrick Wah because I think he did some things pretty well and there are some things that he did that I think are open to criticism. I always try to be fair. I always try to shoot straight and tell it the way I see it.
Uh, and hopefully it gets sorted out in a way that benefits the New York Islanders whether Wah is back or a new coach comes in. But right now, what we learned is that the problems between Lou and Patrick Wah and Lou Lamarello and some of the uh owners and and front office went a little deeper than what we saw on the surface over the course of the season. And those are among the reasons in addition to what we did and did not see on the ice.
Those are among the reasons that Lamarello has been uh not brought back as president and general manager of the New York Islanders. We have got a lot more to discuss on today's show. a longtime Islander has officially announced his retirement as a pro hockey player.
Plus, a very unpopular move made by the Islanders that has fans upset. For our Islanders birthday of the day, a defensive forward who was with the Islanders in the mid 90s and later played for the Rangers. Let's see if you can guess who that is.
All that and more next on today's Locked On Islanders podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA playoffs are almost here and FanDuel is giving new customers an incredible way to get in on the action.
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He has retired. from professional hockey clutter. Uh played in 1,064 career NHL games, 11 seasons with the New York Islanders.
He was traded by the Minnesota Wild. He is uh you know had more than 4,000 hits in his NHL career. Islanders picked him up in 2013.
He did not play uh this past season. Those of us who watch the Islanders television broadcast uh saw him in pregame show and postgame show very often and I think he did a pretty good job especially for a rookie but Clutter was always straightforward. He was a leader in the locker room was an alternate captain.
Again, not many fourthline players get to play more than a thousand games in their career. He had 143 goals and 150 assists. So, 293 points.
Not bad at all. We mentioned the hits. And look, it was Martin, Sikas Martin, and Clutterbuck.
That was your identity line. and the Islanders that that line set the tone for the Islanders success on those two long playoff runs that the team made in 2000 uh and 20 and 2021. So, uh, congratulations to Cal Clutterbuck on a great career and basically wishing him well in retirement.
He's already, you know, played in the Islanders alumni game. He's been, as we mentioned, a broadcaster. And you know, he earned last year the Bob Nestrom Award, which by the way, if you go to the Islanders official website, you could vote for this year's award.
But, uh, Clutterbuck definitely a deserving, uh, you know, deserving of our thanks for everything he did on and off the ice and a great Islander for more than a decade. So congratulations to Cal Clutterbuck on a great career and wishing him all the best in the next chapter of his life as Clutter after sitting out last season making it official. He is retiring from professional hockey at least as a player.
But then on Wednesday we got another announcement and this one angered fans. Arthur Staple of The Athletic made this announcement. He broke this news that Islanders radio voice Chris King and his color commentator Greg Picker will not be back with the organization next year.
And you know King started out as doing color commentary with Jim Cerny back in 1999 2000 became the playbyplay voice of the Islanders 15 years ago in 2010. uh Picker joined him in 2015. Those two guys have been a great team in the radio booth.
And to be honest with you, first of all, Chris King, nobody better, nobody nicer, uh and nobody who loved the Islanders as much as he did. He his enthusiasm when you heard him screaming when the Islanders scored a goal, it was not an act. It was not like part of his job.
It was his genuine affection and love for the team, for the organization, for the players, and it shined in his work. Picker always good with the trivia and the history of the organization. And you know, Ker lived it.
uh you know he was just great uh as far as his memory and the way he just was so enthusiastic and you know so many fans told me over the course of you know DMs and and comments and messages over the years that I've been doing this show how okay if it's an ESPN plus game they hate the uh you know ESPN announcers or the TNT announcers and so they would, you know, let the TV picture be on, but they put on Ker and Picker on on the radio and and watch the game that way. So, right now it appears, you know, the the Islanders radio broadcasts have been done via Hofster University's uh radio station. It doesn't look like that is going to be renewed.
We do not know whether the Islanders will discontinue radio alto together, go to a streaming radio option or maybe do a simal cast uh of some kind of the TV broadcast. But to me, Chris King and Greg Picker, two great Islander fans, great parts of the organization, part of the community, and it is a shame. and and I'm telling you so many people were upset by this news and rightfully so again uh it appears and uh you know all reports are I don't have confirmation but these are the reports that you know John Collins the very same person who is going to pick the Islanders next president and then general manager He was the one who made the decision on the radio broadcasters and the future of the radio broadcaster is going to be up to him.
Do not do not eliminate radio broadcasts in their entirety. I understand the media landscape is changing, but fans in their cars, fans who, you know, aren't able to watch on TV, there's got to be a radio option for them. And nobody did it better.
And nobody loved the Islanders more than Chris King and Greg Picker. So, I am very disappointed. I think the fans are upset by this move and we'll see, you know, what the future holds and what the Islanders are going to do.
But, uh, hopefully this gets resolved and and there should be a role in the future for both of these men in Islanders media. You don't want to be this move smacks of pennywise and pound foolish where you may save a buck or two in the short run, but in the long run I I I I just cannot imagine uh not having some kind of radio presence for a professional sports team here in the New York metropolitan area. So, we'll see how it plays out.
But very very upsetting news to many many Islander fans who have lived and died with these guys and and and you know for more than a decade and in the case of uh you know Kinger 1999 26 years uh you know covering the New York Islanders as part of the radio broadcast. So, uh, hopefully it gets resolved in a better way, but that's the news as of now. And, uh, I am hoping that we get better news in the near future.
We've got more to get to on today's show. We have our weekly farm report. We'll wrap up the mess that was the Bridgeport Islanders and talk about possibly some changes coming to that organization.
Plus, we'll have our Islanders birthday of the day. All that and more next on today's Locked On Islanders podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by Monarch Money.
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Time now for our weekly farm report. And this is the last farm report of the year. Obviously, the Bridgeport Islanders did not make the playoffs.
They did not come close to the playoffs. Uh but they did have two final games on the road last weekend to close out the season. First, a 4 to one loss to the Hartford Wolfpack.
Uh Alex Jeff had the only goal for the Islanders in this one. Uh that was his 13th goal of the year. That put the Islanders up one- nothing, but then four unanswered goals and that was that.
Tristan Lennox 18 saves but gave up four goals on 22 shots. And then in the season finale, it was the Providence Bruins beating the Islanders by a score of 3-2. GL Smith and Cam Berg got the goals.
Liam Foody assisted on both. Tristan Lennox 32 saves in the game. Uh but again giving up three goals on 35 shots.
So he at least played better. And that closed out the 72game season for the Bridgeport Islanders. The final record, 15 wins, 50 losses, and then seven either overtime losses or shootout losses.
That gave them a 257 save p uh uh excuse me point percentage, 37 points, which by the way put them 32 points out of seventh place in the Atlantic division and 19 points behind the next worst the team with the next worst record in the AHL. So it was not pretty out there. Chris Terry led the team in in points and he almost accomp well he did accomplish something that the NHL Islanders didn't.
He had more than 60 points 66 points in 68 games. Brian Pino had 25 goals to lead the team. Liam Foody finished with 20.
Uh Samuel Buluk led all defenseman with 35 points, nine of those goals. But overall, what a rough year it was for the Bridgeport Islanders. And one of the other reports, and I I think this is fairly obvious, but nothing is done until it's done, as they say.
Uh it looks like Chris Lamarella, who has been the general manager in Bridgeport, is also not likely to be back. That's not official yet, but based on, you know, winning only four home games all year and winning 15, losing 50, and losing in either overtime or a shootout, seven more. When your team is that bad, uh, something's got to change.
And, you know, you're getting one out of every possible four points. I It's not going to cut it. You play 72 games, you got to win more than 15 of them.
And out of 36 home games, you got to win more than four. The goal differential was 113 minus 113. It it just has to change.
And again, uh you'll remember every day will recall I did not say that winning is the only thing that's important for an AHL team. But the Bridgeport Islanders have not done a great job of developing prospects. They are certainly not winning games.
Change just like it came to the NHL Islanders has got to come to the AHL Islanders because the cupboard was left close to bear and the approach that the management was using. You could talk about, you know, the strategy being smart or not smart. it just wasn't working.
It wasn't executed well and hopefully we get to see the necessary changes over the offseason and we'll keep you up to date on that throughout the off season as well. Time now for our Islanders birthday of the day and Wednesday was the 52nd birthday of former Islanders forward Derek Armstrong. The Ottawa, Ontario native, 61, 193 pounds, drafted by the Islanders in the sixth round of the 1992 draft.
Played his first NHL game in 1993 94 for the Islanders. And uh had another part part of another season and then a full season in 9697 where he played 50 games, had six goals and 13 points to go with 33 penalty minutes. He was primarily a checking two-way uh forward.
Later played for the Rangers, uh the Kings and the Blues. Most of his career was with the Kings. He played in 477 career NHL games.
72 goals, 221 points, and 355 penalty minutes. Did not ever appear in a Stanley Cup playoff game. One of his better games with the New York Islanders.
And again, you know, it's uh I it's one of those situations where he was not a productive offensive player necessarily, but January 22nd, 1997, Islanders hosting the Edmonton Oilers at the Nassau Coliseum. Curtis Joseph, the goalie for Edmonton. Eric Fisho in between the pipes for the Islanders.
And in this game, our Islanders birthday of the day, Derek Armstrong, he scores a goal in the third period. Brent Hughes had the assist and he assisted on a power play goal by Steve Webb uh late in the game as the Islanders crushed the Oilers by a score of 8 to one. Curtis Joseph started, he was pulled from the game after giving up five goals and Bob Essensa gave up the last three.
Eric Fishial only faced 17 shots in this one, made 16 saves. But for our Islanders birthday of the day, uh Derek Armstrong, he had a goal, he had an assist, he was a plus two, he scored on one of his two shots. And uh Derek Armstrong, a two-way checking center.
He is our Islanders birthday of the day. Thank you for making Lockdown Islanders your first listen today. For your second listen, check out the allnew locked on NHL game night every game, every night until the Stanley Cup champion is crowned.
Get local analysis on a national scale. Find NHL game night on Locked on NHL on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. It's part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day.
If you have a question, a comment, maybe a topic you'd like us to discuss on a future episode, email us at lockdown islanders@gmail. com. And if you leave your first name and where you're from, we're happy to mention you on the show when we discuss whatever's on your mind.
I have a few mailbag questions. I think I'm going to answer a few of them next week. So, keep them coming and we'll knock off a whole bunch of your questions as soon as we accumulate a few more.
So, keep those mailbag questions coming. Always great to hear from you. You can follow the show on X at Locked on Isles.
You can follow me, Gil Martin, on X at Ice Wars, NYRVSNY. We'll keep you up to date on all things Islanders throughout this important and busy off season. And it's always great to talk a little Islanders hockey with you game time or anytime.
Every day, we're back tomorrow. Uh hopefully we'll have some more news about uh the whole process of what's happening with the Islanders. Maybe some more news about why Lu Lamarello uh was let go and some of the behind thescenes issues.
And uh we'll keep you up to date on all of that and more on tomorrow's show. Have a great day everybody. Stay safe and of course let's go Islanders.
