{"id":556650,"date":"2026-04-20T11:55:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T11:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/556650\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T11:55:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T11:55:14","slug":"former-ny-islanders-gm-lamoriello-explains-why-simon-holmstroms-rise-was-no-accident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/556650\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NY Islanders GM Lamoriello explains why Simon Holmstrom&#8217;s rise was no accident"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5n\">Lou Lamoriello didn\u2019t just explain his philosophy on Hockey Night in NY on Sunday night\u2014he reinforced it with the kind of conviction that has defined his career. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5q\">Speaking with Sean Cuthbert and Arthur Staple, Lamoriello pointed to Simon Holmstrom as a clear example of why patience in player development still matters.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5t\">\u201cWe\u2019re all very proud of him,\u201d Lamoriello said of Holmstrom. \u201cHe had the patience when he came over\u2026 to work at the game, and he will continue to get better and better.\u201d <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5w\">That patience, Lamoriello emphasized, is increasingly rare\u2014but essential. Holmstrom didn\u2019t arrive as a finished product, but he did arrive with foundational traits that can\u2019t be taught. \u201cThe one thing he always had was hockey sense, which you can\u2019t teach,\u201d Lamoriello explained. \u201cAnd he also had a frame of hockey strength\u2026 very difficult to get off his feet and very strong in the corners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"63\">Those raw tools needed refinement, and more importantly, belief. \u201cWhat he had to do was just believe in himself and grow in it, get some confidence,\u201d Lamoriello said. \u201cAnd you can see that in his play today.\u201d What the Islanders are seeing now is a player evolving into exactly what the organization envisioned\u2014a steady, impactful presence in all situations. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the better two-way players in the game, in my opinion, or will be,\u201d Lamoriello added, noting Holmstrom\u2019s ability to contribute \u201cboth offensively and defensively\u201d while maintaining a calm, consistent demeanor.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"66\">But Lamoriello also made it clear that Holmstrom\u2019s path is becoming harder to replicate. \u201cI wish we could do that more often now in the game,\u201d he admitted. \u201cWith the early free agency\u2026 players coming in and going right into the league\u2026 they want to step in.\u201d It\u2019s a shift he doesn\u2019t fully embrace. \u201cI would wish that you could always have one or two years minimum in the minors,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to play in the minors\u2026 and it helps you grow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"69\">It worked with Holmstrom, but others may not be afforded the same opportunity.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow eyesonisles.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=eyesonisles.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lou Lamoriello didn\u2019t just explain his philosophy on Hockey Night in NY on Sunday night\u2014he reinforced it with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5110],"tags":[5,122,3328,159,5190,5189,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-556650","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-islanders","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-islanders","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-islanders","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkislanders","14":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116436908405230507","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}