Screw the future. The future is now. Lou Lamoriello has made Long Island a hockey destination, creating an organization that is finally respected.
Scott Malkin and Jon Ledecky purchased this team with big goals. Finally, their goals are coming to fruition.
After bringing in Lou Lamoriello, it was clear a bad hockey team would no longer cut it, and the Islanders have shown clear leaps the last two seasons, ascending to the upper-echelon of NHL teams.
Today reaffirmed that. The Islanders traded first-, second- and third-round draft picks for the top-rental forward on the market, Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Not only that, the Islanders signed Pageau to a six-year contract extension, locking Pageau up as the third-line center of the future the team has desperately craved.
Mat Barzal, Brock Nelson, Pageau and Casey Cizikas will suit up down the middle. That is a wonderful group.

Pageau is a top-NHL player. In 60 games this season, he has 24 goals and 16 assists. Somehow, he is a +10 on a terrible Ottawa team, notching four power-play goals, nine power-play points and 135 shots on goal this year. Additionally, he fits Barry Trotz’s system, playing up and down the lineup, while killing penalties as well.
“He’s worn every hat here,” said Senators forward Bobby Ryan. “He’s been your fourth-line guy when he first started to play and now is getting first-line minutes this year and just done everything you’ve ever asked of him.”
After trading for Andy Greene, Lamoriello decided he was not done. He feels this team can compete with the best, signifying a bright future on Long Island. Gone are the days of being complacent. The time to compete is now.
This is not the only good news of the day.
Zach Parise, an NHL legend on a collision course with the Hall of Fame, has waived his no-trade clause. His preferred destination is the Islanders.

His father, J.P. Parise, was a franchise favorite, and Lamoriello has history with Parise during his time with the New Jersey Devils. Parise loves Minnesota, but he loves winning more.
“Well, now I’m 35. I don’t even know how many years I’ve been in the league, and I’ve really had one chance,” Parise said last July. “I’ve had one chance to win it all, and that wasn’t in Minnesota, and that’s how hard it is. I mean, it’s just not easy, and a lot of things have to go right. But I think now at my age, I mean, you start to get a little worried. Am I going to have another chance? Because that’s why you play. You do get worried, ‘Will I get that opportunity?’ When I went to the Finals my last year in Jersey, and you think just from how fun it was, how great of an experience it was, you crave to get that again.”
If Lamoriello can work out the complicated trade, Parise would come to Long Island. But not only that, he would want to come to Long Island. He would instantly become one of the team’s best forwards even at 35-years-old, giving Trotz a second top-nine forward acquisition in one day.
Parise is a 20-goal-scorer, recording 21 goals and 37 points in 61 contests this season. He has stayed healthy, staying in great shape for someone his age. His 15 power-play points would help the struggling New York unit, another great perk of his game.
The Islanders are looking at a revamped lineup, both in the present and future. One thing is clear. The two are synonymous.
Lee-Barzal-Eberle
Beauvillier-Nelson-Brassard/Wahlstrom
Bailey-Pageau-Parise/Bellows
Martin/Dal Colle-Cizikas/Koivula-Clutterbuck
Greene/Pelech-Pulock
Toews-Mayfield
Leddy/Aho-Boychuk/Dobson
Varlamov
Greiss/Sorokin
Lou Lamoriello, take a bow. A team that won four consecutive Stanley Cups is respected again. It took nearly 40 years, but with a new ownership group, management team, arena and head coach, the dark days are over.
The Islanders are back.

Drive4Five