E.L. wrote:
Lou Lams has been handed full control of hockey ops. Snow nowhere to be found. Sounds like he's out.
Read lots of stuff on Isles blogs about Snow's contract. Supposedly Wang built in a "you won't be fired" clause, that essentially says Snow's salary will be DOUBLED if he's fired. He's got 4 years left on it. Again, that's all third party info on blogs, but I could see Wang doing that. So Snow may become GM of hot dog sales or something, but Lou has final say on every move, which is far better than Snow having it.
I can't see Lou being a fan of Ho-Sang, but maybe he'll have some good advisers to tell him today's NHL is built on speed. The Leafs are a lot faster than when he got there, so he seems to get it.
Supposedly Lou met with Tavares BEFORE accepting the job, which has Isles fans feeling more assured that Tavares is coming back. Every day that passes Isles blogs became more negative on that subject, but spirits lifted today.
And Lou's son is Isles assistant GM. He's going to have a long term contention plan so his son isn't getting deeper into a shit show, ruining his reputation...
Lou said today that he has no preconceived notions about the Isles staff or roster. I can't see how that's possible. He's been in their conference, if not division, for decades. Obviously he's seen the closely for a long time. I know you watch your own team closest, but you have to have some clues about your opponents. I think he's just going about his usual mob boss style on this, and not letting anyone know what's coming.
Further rumor- Mark Hunter can't join another team until after July 1st, so some think Lou will act as GM until then and then announce Hunter is hired. Possibly with Hunter making some behind the scenes decisions with Lou.
Also known now- Isles owner Ledecky approached the Leafs while they were still in the playoffs about being allowed to talk to Lou. Lou refused to talk while the Leafs were still playing, and even then waited a while to call Ledecky because he felt it was "too soon" after they were eliminated. During that period Isles fans were lambasting Ledecky's talk about evaluating the whole org, but not doing anything they could see. Well, Ledecky took his public lumps while privately and patiently making a bold move. I like it, and I guess owe Ledecky an apology since I was one of the people blasting him on the good ol' hindernet.
I look forward to seeing what he has in mind.
Getting Schneider for the Devils and Andersen for the Leafs shows Lou values good goalies, which the Isles haven't really done for a while. I mean, Halak is pretty good, but everyone knew he had durability issues and would play much less than a normal #1 starter. Greiss fell off the face of the Earth last year, and maybe he's due for a bounce back season, but Snow's plan seemed to be to rely on Greiss and North America new comer Soderstrom. I doubt Lou goes into a season like that.