New York Islanders Lou Lamoriello’s BEST Draft Day Trades
the NHL draft is coming up and we kind of just wanted to look at you know some L LA merillo draft day trades because we’ve been very trade focused right now which makes sense because the T like leading up to the draft and free agency that’s when trades happen after the the Stanley Cup comes to a close you know in the next few days here probably like that’s going to ramp up even more so so that’s why there’s a major focus on it but kind of just looking at a at a more micro level at at Draft Day traits yeah and like Lou has been active specifically the last four years maybe not just on draft day itself but if you very close to the draft window he has been active he’s already been active now right he already sent the first to Chicago who has now since moved it on to I forget who because they moved up to seventh uh in the draft at Chicago I think it was Ottawa they sent it to or there was a proposal sorry no yeah because they want ottawa’s open to trading out of seven right that’s the story okay sorry that was me um conflating two things I was reacting or my mind was was putting in place a tweet from puckpedia that was kind of pimping out their um draft um nice not rankings but they have this this kind of grading system where they they grade every value of every draft pick like the actual just number and they showed like Chicago could send the 20th plus every one of their other picks and it still wouldn’t match ottawa’s number seven in terms of the potential future value you might get from that so sorry Chicago did not move on from that trade but the whole point here is that L Emeral has already made a trade and we’re like a month we were month away from the draft now we are X number of days closer today so he’s going to do something the he he one he’s going to do something but then also like looking at you know even like in recent Lou Laro history the Romanov trade was a draft day trade so like yeah so that’s the first one that jumped out to me there there’s three at and each at different points in Lou Lam millo’s career that to me really stand out as you know draft day um moves in a sense or moving around the board even a little bit um but for Island there’s history the the first one that jumped out was you know the Romanov trade and that kind of seemed to come out of nowhere because if I remember correctly weren’t they in on JT Miller earlier in the day and it felt like the going to make a big move for for JT Miller yeah they were that was part of it it seemed like he was they were in on that and it broke down for whatever reason probably because someone leaked that they were doing it and Lou’s like no which I don’t entirely believe it’s that dramatic when it comes to Lou um because anyways we don’t need to really litigate that but yeah you send it first a 13th overall for Alex Romanov at that point we’re going we need you know quality NHL talent and then he trades for a guy who’s been in the year in the league for like two years you’re saying uh I like it we all kind of liked it to a certain degree but it did kind of throw us for a curve because you don’t see L lamello trading a 13th overall pick for a 20 I believe he’s 22 at the time yeah you just don’t see that happen usually from a lul l so it it not only signal activity but it because and we have to remember that the the leadup towards this trade when we’re just looking at trades and Lou and draft the period around the draft most of his trades have been offboarding right the two drafts before that he was clearing the way to make room to do something later at a later date whereas this is very much I’m bringing something in complete roll reversal or or flip in terms of the the um oh my God the goal yeah the goal and what he was doing instead of offloading he’s unloading and then in terms of the the the the age of the player he’s no longer just bringing in a an established veteran he’s bring bringing in an established like rookie basically so it’s a complete 360 from Lou yeah it was and oh I I didn’t realize that iers also got a fourth round pick which turned into Isaiah George from that trade yeah exactly right so you get Romanov and now you have Isaiah George in the system as well right so who we there’s a lot to be excited about with Isaiah George I know I said it before I know some of you specifically have mentioned him before you you listening at home um there’s a lot to like about him um but let’s manage expectations with him um but you’re right like we sent a first round pick that turned into I believe Frank Nazar is what Chicago uh correct used to to draft um and we got Romanov who has been playing two years now for the Islanders right so you got full two years before Frank daar is even hit at the NHL I think he just played his first couple games at the end of this year for Chicago um you’ve already made the playoffs you he looks pretty good and he’s only 24 years old and now you’ve got Isaiah George as well who is GNA be starting his pro career basically at the same fraking time as Frank Nazar he’s maybe six months off that’s it what are we doing here that’s an absolute beauty of a win right there for us no it it is and I think we both stated that we’re you know big fans of Alex Romanov and you know at his age he just played his 24 season he turns 25 in January of next year so he’ll play you know the first few months of the year even still in his age 24 season so um I think he’s going to be an important piece to this team for you know the foreseeable future um I think a shrewd move wasn’t really expecting that uh and kind of want a replica of that this offseason right like flipping that first round pick for for a young but NHL Ready Player exactly right like everyone wants to see Marty niches but we all know we don’t have the the um the tools to not the tools the assets to bring him in but if you’re talking about somebody like maybe lion you know Columbus I don’t know if they could use a first round pick I’m sure they’ve got a crap ton already um but may maybe they they package a first rounder with someone who’s on an expiring deal like a marchenko and they they bring someone else in maybe like a Marin niches um whereas we we don’t we don’t have that ability to do so um but you’re you’re right you you want to bring someone in who’s not 28 going on 29 in August type of situation not that that would be the end of the world but the ideal candidate is like 26 to 23 years old around that right not like fresh face taking his first steps in the NHL but we’ve already seen signs of that Talent he’s just looking to take the next step that that would be the ideal candidate for us assuming we could pick that up correct yeah Alex Romanov trade 2.0 is would be ideal Shane Pino yes just because we we we’ve beaten that one to death so many times but like essentially that yeah and so like we do have to remember that L loll has been active around these drafts yes we’ve already seen that one trade but I think everyone and their mother knows that trade wasn’t the end of the road for Lam Mell he didn’t make that trade so he can get two second round picks to sit on and make picks that’s just not what he’s going to do no that would be really dumb for him because it this is not the draft to be moving back and acquiring more more more picks no really no um so he’s GNA be using that for something and again Lou is active in 282 sorry in 2023 you mentioned it earlier or sorry no he sends Josh Bailey to Chicago for uh plus a second for futures so again offloading an offloading type trade 22 he makes that Alex Romanov trade you made in 21 Andrew lad and Nick Ley are traded away this is both six and seven days before the actual first day of the draft that year but still the time period is there in 2020 six and five days prior or after the draft Devon traded to Colorado AJ Greer and and and he swaps HL prospects I just put it in because he did it yep um so four years straight where he’s doing something in and around the draft th this is a hot period of time for L lamro he’s going to be working the phones day in and day out which really just means 800 to 4 pm but still still he’s gonna be working them maybe before maybe right after he gets his morning berries he’s right on those phones baby yeah I I I like that working the phones doing it doing the thing now’s the time for him to to do that and I I think he’s had maybe not all the ones that that you’ve listed off I wouldn’t say all of them were successes some of them he had to do like you know for instance the devontes is not you can’t say that was a success but like I I think both you and I are not nearly as hard on him for that trade than a lot of I under fans are um but e either way Mor of the story so the Romanov one I brought up there were two that I thought were also major wins from earlier in his career not just wanted to point him out not that we have to go in in detail on him but um the Corey Schneider trade in 20 what was that 13 I guess yes um landed the devil’s a franchise goalie on draft day and then in 1990 he traded down uh from 11 to 20 and drafted Martin broor with the 20th pick I would say that to ma your win if you like that make sure to subscribe to up the turnpike on Patron for more exclusive New York Islanders content content
Matt and Mitch discuss the history of Lou Lamoriello making trades at the NHL Draft
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