Lamoriello Supportive of NHL's Return to Play Plan

Lou Lamoriello likes the plan - specifically, the
NHL's Return to Play Plan
for the 2019-20 season.
The Islanders President and General Manager voiced his support for the league's 24-team return to play proposal during a Wednesday conference call with reporters.

"The league has done a tremendous job in coming up with a best possible scenario that they could to satisfy all of the individual situations of each team," Lamoriello said. "I'm totally supportive of what the results were and just excited that we have a template to get back."
If/when the league does resume, the Islanders will take on the Florida Panthers in a best-of-five play-in series to qualify for the first round of the playoffs. There are still many things to be worked out before then, including dates for returns and which hub cities will host the league.
"There are a lot of details that have to be worked out," Lamoriello said. "Until that's done, we won't have a full picture of everything but we'll proceed and are looking forward to getting started and playing."
The biggest takeaways from Wednesday's call were the availability of the Islanders injured players,
specifically Adam Pelech
, as well as construction resuming on Belmont Park Arena. Keep reading for takeaways from Lamoriello's call.

"Every Player Available"

The Islanders will have "every player available" when small-group sessions resume at Northwell Health Ice Center in early June for Phase 2 of the NHL's return plan. That list includes Adam Pelech, Casey Cizikas and Johnny Boychuk, who were all out with injuries at the time of the league's pause on March 12.
Pelech's inclusion was the biggest development, as the defenseman had been out since Jan. 2 with an Achilles Tendon injury and was slated to miss the remainder of the regular season. Lamoriello had previously indicated that Cizikas, out since Feb. 11 with a leg laceration, and Boychuk, who had a slice to his eyelid on March 3, were ready to return.
"Adam is cleared to participate in the small number of people that are allowed on the ice, as if the injury never took place," Lamoriello said. "He has clearance, so does Casey Cizikas. There are no injury of any player that I am aware of that should hold them back from participating immediately."
ISLES DTD: PELECH CLEARED FOR PLAY
Pelech is an integral component of the Isles penalty kill and at the time of his injury averaged the second most SH/TOI per game of 2:47. Pelech also led the Isles in blocked shots with 83 at the time of his injury.
"[Pelech] is a valuable piece to our team," Lamoriello said. "In saying that, we have to wait and see where everyone is at. It's similar coming off the summer and going into training camp. [Pelech] is healthy, he is physically healthy and certainly feels good. He's ready to play."
Lamoriello said that he'll know more about everyone's status once his players return to Long Island and undergo physicals.

Video: Return to Play Plan for 2019-20 NHL Season

No Timetable on Players' Return to Long Island

With some of the Islanders returning to their offseason homes, there is no official timetable for when the Islanders will all be back on Long Island.
Lamoriello said that individual preparations to return to Long Island have begun, but did not elaborate on who is and isn't currently in the area.
"There are a lot of arrangements and travel situations, immigration, that has to take place," Lamoriello said. "I prefer not to get into who individually is on their way, or who isn't, until we know everything. Certainly individual preparations as of the announcement are currently underway."
Official training camps, which fall under Phase 3 of the NHL's return to play plan, will not begin prior to the first half of July, according to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Currently, non-essential travel between Canada and the United States is suspended through at least June 21.

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Belmont Park Arena Construction Resumes

Lamoriello confirmed on the conference call that construction has resumed on Belmont Park Arena.
Construction was halted on March 27 as New York State stopped non-essential building as part of its state-wide pause.
Lamoriello said he doesn't anticipate any delays on the completion of the project as a result of to the two-month pause, as the arena was ahead of schedule at that time.
"It's a great sight that it is happening," Lamoriello said of construction resuming. "The most comfortable feeling is that we were ahead of schedule when this all took place and that I do not believe there will be any hiccups as far as the delay of when it's proposed to be open and that's great news."
Belmont Park Arena is slated to open for the 2021-22 season.

Tweet from @NYIslanders: WE ALL NEED IT pic.twitter.com/L7ib1cDezJ

More to Come

There are still many unknowns, such as the status of exhibition games and the length of the first-and-second playoff rounds, but Lamoriello said those details will continue to be worked out with the league and players' association.
"All of those things will take care of themselves during a short period of time, like picking where the hub cities are," Lamoriello said. "There are other things that certainly have to be worked out, specifics and particulars, but I am comfortable that they will get that done in due process."
Lamoriello said that given how much the world has changed over the past two months that this is all a fluid situation, but he's grateful to be talking about a plan to resume, and commended the discipline of New Yorkers to abide by social distancing mandates.
He also said the Islanders have been proactive with planning a safe and healthy return for their players and will continue to be diligent going forward.
"This is certainly unprecedented, but it's similar to what we're all going through," Lamoriello said. "It's going to be a fluid motion, there are going to be adjustments and details that have to be overcome, all we can do is just be straightforward, keep everyone abreast, try to keep everybody's minds in the right direction and most important thing is to come forward with the best safety and safe situations that we can be involve with. That's the way the league and the union have approached this and we will as an organization continue to approach this and have already taken steps with that proactively with the potential of this happening… We're as prepared at this point as we could be at handling all of the situations that we're aware of. We certainly know more are going to come up."