The Islanders New England mob got one person larger today with the hiring of Chris Lamoriello as Director of Player Personnel.

But Chris isn’t just Son of Lou, longtime Devils boss and current Maple Leafs GM. The Providence, R.I. native has been a hockey staffer since 1995, working first as a scout then as Sr. Vice President of Hockey Operations for the Devils, where he also served as GM of their AHL affiliate in Albany from 2001-2015.

Via the Islanders’ official release:

“I’m excited for the opportunity to work for such a storied franchise alongside a great management and ownership group,” Lamoriello said. “The Islanders have a great team and I’m looking forward to helping them continue their climb towards a championship.”

Is this a good hiring? I have no idea, mainly because I have no idea what a Director of Player Personnel actually does.

But with special adviser George McPhee now building an expansion team in Las Vegas, it sounds like Garth Snow wanted another person to bounce ideas off of, something Jack Capuano says is important to the GM in his decision-making process.

"I think the guys that we signed like the way we played, the style of play that we played with. I think the one thing about Garth is that he always makes the final decision on what needs to be done on the personnel side of things. But he plays his cards, he's going to go around and ask a lot of people for a lot of different opinions on what people think of players before he does things. It's his final decision, but he does communicate very well."

So Chris Lamoriello is either a new voice bringing a fresh perspective to the Islanders’ brass or he’s another example of the NHL’s Old Boys (And Their Sons) Network run amok. One thing is for sure: There will be Opinions.