One of Lou Lamoriello’s favorite sayings is that, when there’s time to use, use it.
The Islanders president and general manager certainly heeded his own words heading into Monday’s NHL trade deadline. Others around the league were sure Lamoriello’s only option was to be a seller with the Islanders’ playoff chances hovering closer to none than slim.
But Lamoriello, who told Newsday and one other media outlet at the start of the month he still believes in his core group of players and he was vacillating on his trade-deadline approach, didn’t start moving pieces early.
The Islanders, finally fully healthy from both injuries and COVID-19 and playing games regularly rather than sitting through long stretches of inactivity, have started to look like the team that made back-to-back trips to the NHL semifinals the last two seasons in their best stretch of hockey this season.