Islanders' Lou Lamoriello named NHL's top GM for second straight season
Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello speaks with the media at Northwell Health Ice Center on May 6, 2019. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Lou Lamoriello’s entire NHL career has been built on creating team success, not individual success.
Yet the Islanders president and general manager received a huge personal accolade on Tuesday as he won the Jim Gregory Award as the NHL’s top GM for the second straight season. He became the first two-time recipient of the award, which was inaugurated in 2010 and renamed in 2019 for Gregory, the late Maple Leafs GM and NHL executive.
The Canadiens’ Marc Bergevin - a former Islander - and the Panthers’ Bill Zito were the other finalists.
Lamoriello joined the Islanders in 2018 after running the Devils from 1987-2015 and then serving as the Maple Leafs’ GM for three seasons.
One of his first acts as Islanders boss was to hire coach Barry Trotz, who had just led the Capitals to the Stanley Cup. Trotz won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top coach in the first season of his partnership with Lamoriello.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
