How Islanders General Manager Lou Lamoriello Went Above & Beyond For Jordan Eberle

New York Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello is under fire for his "archaic" rules and how he runs his organizations.

As Matt Martin told The Hockey News, "He certainly deserves more positive press than he's getting."

Related: Matt Martin On Islanders General Manager Lou Lamoriello's Rules: 'It's All About The Team'

There's no question that Lamoriello has his flaws, as no one is without them.

But in terms of caring for his players, Lamoriello always goes above and beyond for them and their families when he can.

In January 2023, former Islanders forward Jordan Eberle joined the "32 Thoughts" podcast and discussed Lamoriello.

“He just kind of has a presence about him. I mean, you could go from ‘The Godfather’ to John Dutton in ‘Yellowstone.’ He just has this aura about him that you just love […] this respect factor,” Eberle said. “And obviously, everyone knows him for his roles as far as keeping your face clean and your hair cut, but I don’t think there’ll be a thing that he wouldn’t do for you.”

Here's the story of how Lamoriello went above and beyond for the Eberle family.

When the pandemic hit, the Canadian border closed, which trapped many NHLers in the United States, including Eberle.

But what made matters worse was that two days after the world shut down, the Eberles welcomed the birth of their baby girl.

“My daughter was born literally two days after the season ended and COVID had started. We were stuck in New York, and we had had a home birth, and we couldn’t get a birth certificate so that we could get a passport to go home,” Eberle said. “So after about a month and a half, we’re stuck in New York. We wanted to get back. We didn’t have any form of identification for her.”

So what did Eberle do?

He called his general manager.

“Eventually, I was like, okay, I’m just gonna call Lou and ask him (for help),” Eberle said. “I called Lou, and within a day, I had the governor of Washington call me to get some identification for my daughter.

"So I mean, it just goes to show you the loyalty that if you go by his rules and you’re a good teammate, a good person, that he’ll do a lot for you.”

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