Lou Lamoriello reaches into past to rebuild Islanders staff

The Islanders’ new front office is starting to come together.

President Lou Lamoriello announced Tuesday that the team has hired Steve Pellegrini to be an assistant general manager. Pellegrini spent the past 12 years as a vice president of hockey operations for the Devils, where he was hired and worked under Lamoriello until the latter left for the Maple Leafs in 2015.

Pellegrini joins Lamoriello’s son, Chris, as an assistant GM, with a full-time GM yet to be named — if there is going to be one other than the elder Lamoriello. According to a statement released by the team, Pellegrini worked on all hockey-related matters with the Devils, “including and not limited to, contract negotiation/salary arbitration preparation, collective bargaining agreement/salary cap compliance, scheduling and scouting.”

“Steve brings over 20 years of knowledge and experience to our hockey operations,” Lamoriello said.

Changes have come quickly since Lamoriello was hired as the Islanders president on May 21, waiting just two weeks before he fired GM Garth Snow and head coach Doug Weight. Both are staying with the organization in some ambiguous role, but a new coach definitely will be needed.

There has been some logical speculation that Lamoriello wants to bring Mark Hunter over from the Maple Leafs after he was assistant GM in Toronto under Lamoriello. The same can be said for longtime Devils executive David Conte, whose current work as a pro scout for the Golden Knights got a first-year roster into Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final.

The Rangers signed a one-year deal with 26-year-old, restricted free-agent goalie Marek Mazanec, who split time this past season in the KHL and with AHL Hartford. The 6-foot-4, 187-pounder has 31 games of NHL experience, all with Nashville, and in 20 games with the Wolf Pack this past season, he posted a 2.97 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage.

The Blueshirts signed the Czech native as a free agent on Dec. 6, 2017, and he had been Nashville’s sixth-round pick (No. 179 overall) in 2012.