After getting Pierre Engvall, Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello won't say he's done
Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello watches his team during practice at UBS Arena on, Nov. 18, 2021 in Elmont, Credit: Jim McIsaac
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Lou Lamoriello kept mentioning newly-acquired Pierre Engvall’s speed.
“We’re extremely pleased,” said the Islanders president and general manager, who sent a third-round pick to the Maple Leafs on Tuesday for the 26-year-old, 6-5, 219-pound Swedish forward.
“Pierre is a very versatile player. He can play any one of the forward positions. Probably his biggest asset is his skating ability. He’s got a long reach.
“I can’t over-emphasize his speed.”
Engvall, the Maple Leafs’ seventh-round pick in 2014, has 42 goals and 41 assists in 226 NHL games, including 12 goals and nine assists in 58 games this season. He’ll join the Islanders back on Long Island with the expectation he’ll play against the Red Wings on Saturday afternoon at UBS Arena.
He is an impending unrestricted free agent as he completes a one-year, $2.25 million deal.
“We’ll take one thing at a time,” Lamoriello said. “He’s certainly an individual that you’d like to keep in your organization with the style he plays and his speed.”
Lamoriello, who also acquired top-line center Bo Horvat from the Canucks on Jan. 30, would not comment when asked if he expects to continue to be busy through Friday’s NHL trade deadline.
But he did say impending UFAs Zach Parise, goalie Semyon Varlamov and defenseman Scott Mayfield all expressing a desire to remain with the Islanders through the trade deadline would be taken into account.
“That does enter in your thought process,” Lamoriello said. “Without question.”
Isles files
Lamoriello said C Jean-Gabriel Pageau (injured reserve, upper body), who missed his eighth game, has resumed skating … Rookie LW Arnaud Durandeau, without a point in his first four NHL games, was a healthy scratch in favor of 6-5, 230-pound Ross Johnston, who fought Wild enforcer Ryan Reaves in the first period … Horvat won 14 of 17 faceoffs.
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.
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