Lamoriello earns some criticism from fellow GMs for his old school ways

In case you missed it yesterday, Johnny Gaudreau absolutely shocked the hockey world by turning down big money offers from the Calgary Flames, New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders in favor of signing with the... Columbus Blue Jackets.

It's a move that NO ONE saw coming, even after Gaudreau informed the Flames on Tuesday evening that he wouldn't be re-signing in Calgary. There were rumors that the Philadelphia Flyers, Devils and the Islanders were all in pursuit of Gaudreau, but the persistence of Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekkalainen and President John Davidson is what sealed the deal for Johnny Hockey.

As for the Devils and Flyers, they went on to make other moves but the Islanders have done literally nothing and fans aren't happy. Islanders insider BD Gallof reports that a source of his indicated that Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello simply couldn't sell the vision of the team to Gaudreau and that Lamoriello's lack of interpersonal skills was what ultimately cost him the free agent superstar.

This is in line with other anecdotal reports of Lamoriello's fellow GMS who have criticized him for his old school ways. Lamoriello is a stickler for rules but he has some truly archaic rules that he imposes on his players. Islanders players must be clean shaven, they must not share any contract information with members of the media and they basically have to do exactly as Lamoriello says at all times. You can understand then why players aren't exactly lining up to play in Long Island...