Aside from ongoing negotiations with Mathew Barzal that seem to be heading in the right direction, Lou Lamoriello says he has the team he wants to take to the start of the shortened 2020-21 season.
The Islanders general manager announced during his preseason media availability on Thursday that Matt Martin and Andy Greene, the team’s remaining free agents, have agreed to their respective terms. In addition, Lamoriello confirmed that former Devils goalkeeper Cory Schneider has also signed a contract with the islands.
While he had nothing new to report on the ongoing talks with Barzal and his camp, Lamoriello said the 23-year-old star center is in New York and is being quarantined in accordance with the competition’s COVID-19 protocol.
“It is our intention and his intention to be there [at the start of training camp], and hopefully it will, ”he said during a Zoom call.
Lamoriello has seemingly made it a priority to free up cap space off-season to be able to sign Barzal, ship Devon Toews to Colorado, and unofficially retire Johnny Boychuk. He locked up Ryan Pulock on a two-year deal and earlier this month bought Dmytro Timashov, a limited free agent yet to be signed, from the Red Wings.
When asked if he planned to bring in additional players for a tryout, Lamoriello said the roster would remain unchanged on his way to training camp Sunday.
“I think we will stick with the group we have at this point,” he said. “Things can always change. A lot will happen during the season. But this will be the group at this point. “
One player who won’t be heading to training camp with the Islanders this season is Joshua Ho-Sang, whose tenure with the organization continues to take turns. It was reported, and confirmed by The Post, that Ho-Sang would not receive an invitation to a training camp despite avoiding arbitration in late October and signing a mutual agreement.
The islanders offered Ho-Sang a qualification offer in early October, but the former 28th overall pick in 2014, much to Lamoriello’s surprise, filed an arbitration.
When it came time to evaluate the current squad for training camp, Lamoriello said he didn’t think Ho-Sang would crack the four- to six-man taxi squad that all teams will have this season.
“We decided we would take four goalkeepers, 12 defenders and 21 forwards, that’s seven lines, knowing that once we received the transition rules, it would be a selection plus a taxi crew of up to four, minimum six,” Lamoriello said. “When we looked at our entire group to see who we thought had the best chance of making those four to six, he wasn’t one of them.”
After defenders Adam Pelech (wrist) and Casey Cizikas (detached retina) underwent successful surgery at the end of last season, Lamoriello confirmed on Thursday that the two are “100 percent healthy” and will fully exercise in training camp.