The Islanders have now come up just short of the Stanley Cup in two straight seasons, losing in game six last year to the eventual champs before falling 1-0 in a heartbreaking game seven in this year's conference final, once again to the Lightning.
As New York looks to get over the hump and evolve from contenders to champions, team president and general manager Lou Lamoriello doesn't anticipate any major changes this offseason, as the Islanders believe they have a core that is capable of taking that next step after being on the cusp the last two years.
"I don't think they should expect any dramatic makeover," Lamoriello told Moose and Maggie on Tuesday. "We will protect the players we are able to protect. The most we can lose during the expansion will be one player, and hopefully it's not a player that we wouldn't like to lose, but that's what expansion is all about."
The Seattle Kraken will pluck one contributor from New York this offseason, but in terms of additions, Lamoriello is always evaluating opportunities to improve his club, though he didn't see a team that needs a big change in order to reach its first Stanley Cup since 1984 while watching the Islanders come one game short of that goal this postseason.
"I've had that question asked to me several times," Lamoriello said. "I did think about it, and yet I said 'would they be asking that question to me if we won 1-0, which could have happened?' There's such a fine line between winning and losing. I don't look at what we need to get better, I look at how can we get better, because you can never be satisfied. Whatever ways we can improve the team, you have to do that, no matter what the season was like, and that's the way I approach it."
The Islanders have had the unfortunate task of going up against the eventual champs last year, and could face that same result again after the Lightning dominated Montreal in game one of the Stanley Cup to move closer to back-to-back championships. Despite the frustration of falling just short again, Lamoriello is keeping the season as a whole in perspective, not just the final result, when evaluating his group.
"At the beginning of the year, if you could have been told you would be playing in the seventh game for the conference championship, you would say 'where's the dotted line, I'll sign it,'" Lamoriello said. "It was a tremendous year during a very difficult year. Our coaching staff and our players did everything they were capable of doing to be where we were at, and we lost to a great hockey team."
One big addition could come internally, as the Islanders were missing captain Anders Lee all postseason due to an ACL injury. Head coach Barry Trotz felt Lee's presence would have made a big difference in the conference finals, but fortunately, Lee is on track to be ready to return in plenty of time to get ready for next season.
"He will be ready without question for training camp," Lamoriello said. "In fact, if you asked Anders today, he would have felt like he could have played…he has been practicing for a good month. But the best decision was to give it the maximum time for that kind of injury, but we have no question whatsoever from our medical doctors that he will be ready for training camp."
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