I listened to that mowing the lawn and he said he broke the story on 23rd so I looked to see if it was the first mention but I looked at post and friedman and not staple who as you pointed out mentioned it before. How funny would it be if they had ghost accounts like that NBA guy 
- Upstate_isles
This is Staple's article on the 22nd. A day before BD broke the story
There is no mystery about what Lou Lamoriello’s job is with the Islanders, one that was made official Tuesday morning by the team. Lamoriello, who was in charge of every aspect of hockey operations for 28 years with the Devils, has the same role now, five months shy of 76 years old.
The team even said so in their prepared statement, right there in the second sentence: “(Lamoriello) will have full authority over all hockey matters within the organization.” Principal owner Scott Malkin, who Lamoriello said sought permission from Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment chairman Larry Tanenbaum to speak with him just after the Leafs were eliminated from the playoffs last month, clearly was ready to find someone besides Garth Snow to make hockey decisions going forward.
And what of Snow, now reduced to being just general manager? He was leading the Islanders’ scouting meetings on Tuesday afternoon as Lamoriello spoke to reporters on a conference call; all the team’s front-office executives (including Lamoriello’s son, Chris), scouts and head coach Doug Weight were on hand, as they will be throughout the week with the organization prepping for the upcoming draft, free agency and any trades they might hope to make.
Presumably, Lamoriello will join those meetings, since it’s his show now. He told reporters he’s coming in with “no preconceived notions” about anyone in the organization and mentioned no one by name during his 15-minute session. Snow, with one of his longtime job titles now gone and with a direct boss for the first time in his 12 years, was in Denmark when Lamoriello, not yet on the job, sat down with John Tavares last week for an informal chat.
That may not make for a happy relationship in the new Islanders front office, despite Snow’s longtime admiration of his fellow New Englander. Leafs assistant GM Mark Hunter was let go earlier Tuesday, leading to rampant speculation that he could follow Lamoriello to the Islanders, but TSN’s Bob McKenzie tweeted that Hunter is not permitted to join another team until after the draft and free agency since he has a year left on his contract.
With less than a month to go until the draft, Lamoriello doesn’t appear to feel any pressure to make calls on the current Isles staff. “I take a step back, see exactly who you have in place, what they have to offer and then make decisions as I go along,” he said.
Snow and Weight, according to a league source, were unaware that Lamoriello was meeting with Tavares while they were both attending the World Championships. They may certainly have been aware that Lamoriello and Malkin were discussing a role and both those longtime players and executives were also well aware that when Lamoriello takes a job, he’s not taking a back seat to anyone. So Tuesday’s announcement did not come as a shock, given all the chatter beforehand.
This is definitely a new dynamic for an organization that has had precisely five general managers in 46 years and always run on a small-staff, us-against-the-world budget and mentality. Even the dynasty years were marked by budget concerns.
So we are in new territory now. Lamoriello would not cop to anything about last week’s sitdown with Tavares and said this about the Islanders captain and pending free agent: “Everyone in the National Hockey League knows about John Tavares. He’s one of the elite players, a gentleman both on and off the ice. He’s a quality individual as well as a quality player. I don’t know any better way of describing him.”
So the main task now is make the right moves that convince Tavares it’s worth sticking around. Lamoriello’s aggressiveness in trades and signings have been hit-or-miss in recent years — those Ryane Clowe and Anton Volchenkov contracts for the Devils weren’t home runs, and his free-agent additions to the Leafs (Matt Martin, Roman Polak) don’t necessarily scream forward-thinking.
But one of his first big moves as Leafs GM, in June 2016, was acquiring goaltender Frederik Andersen for a late first-round pick. The Islanders have four of the first 43 picks in next month’s draft and a yawning hole in net, along with a need for a top-four defenseman and some forward help. Lamoriello comes in to evaluate not only the current staff but the current team and prospect pool and he will certainly bring a different perspective to players who may be on the move sooner than later.
“When there’s a change, a couple guys get better and a couple get worse,” he said. “You hope the more talented ones get better.”
The first thing Lamoriello said in response to a reporter’s question on Tuesday was this: “I was impressed with the conversation I had with Scott Malkin, his vision, his commitment and his support to the Islanders. I also look at it as a challenge to bring the Islanders back to where they were.”
The last thing he said Tuesday when asked which of the three Stanley Cups he won with the Devils he was most proud of, was this: “I probably remember most the ones we didn’t win that we should have won.”
It’s a new day on the Island, there’s no mistaking that.
